


ashes to achor, dust to dread

by betharue



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-18 08:31:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 59,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3563063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betharue/pseuds/betharue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reyna returns to her hometown for one reason: to find her friend Annabeth who has been missing for nine years. With the help of Annabeth's old journal and her childhood friends, she figures she can at least find out what happened to her on the night she went disappeared. But Agesander, Virginia is not the boring small town Reyna thinks she grew up in and the girl she knew as a child has more secrets than Reyna could've imagined. </p><p>Some things are better left in the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. gone girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pipabeth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipabeth/gifts), [jackson](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=jackson).



> i can't believe i'm actually posting this after months and months of planning and procrastinating. thank you to mansi for listening to me cry about this fic for weeks before i even started writing it, grace for being my first beta, and jackson for being the final editor.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna's best friend going missing is, surprisingly, only a fraction of the problem.

_August 31, 2006, 12:48 a.m._

_You have six unheard messages._

_First unheard message: Reyna? It’s me, Annabeth. Please pick up. I know it’s late, but I really need your help. I don’t really want to go over the whole thing over the phone. I can’t call the police for this so just call me back, ok? Bye._

_Second unheard message: Hey, Reyna. It’s me again. Remember how I asked you to call back? I was pretty serious. I just really need your help. Call me back._

_Third unheard message: Ok, I’m literally your best friend and you can’t answer a damn phone call? I know you always stay up until two in the morning reading almost every day, you can at least wake up to call your best friend at midnight. If do wake up, I’m in the woods a mile or so from Castellan's Jump. Help me. I’m freaking out, just so you know._

_Fourth unheard message: Ok, this is getting really bad now. I think I’m being followed. I can’t see anybody else here, but I feel this weird presence and I’m freaking out. I tried calling other people but nobody else is answering and I trust you more than anyone. Call me._

_Fifth unheard message: Reyna. I’m being stalked. I’m losing it. Don’t tell anyone I called. Can’t really talk right now. Respond._

_Sixth unheard message: The incident, Reyna. It’s about the incident._

* * *

_September 3, 2006, 3:07 p.m._

“Wow I can't believe it. This is so fucking wild, man. Annie was such a nice kid,” the cop said with strange fascination. He was tall and sweaty, and his unruly dark curls didn’t quite cover up his uneven eyes. He didn’t wear a name tag, or a uniform, but Reyna already knew he was Dakota Wilson, because everyone in a small town knew each other in some way. He was famous for buying alcohol for minors over Spring Break and Reyna had gotten her fair share of drinks from him, so she tried not to hate him that much for being so nonchalant about her best friend’s disappearance.

“Yeah, it's really shocking,” she said. Dakota didn’t seem to hear her. He was too busy guzzling a bottle of red Kool-Aid that smelled suspiciously of vodka and daydreaming about what terrible, gory things might've happened to Annabeth.

“I wonder if she was murdered. Damn, I hope she didn't get snatched by one of those freaks that cuts up little girls. I saw that in a movie once. Annie's too nice to have that happen to her." Reyna got a vision of Annabeth chopped up into tiny pieces. She saw her long, blonde curls soaked with blood and blunt nails peeled off and scattered on a dirty basement floor. It was so vivid that Reyna had the urge to reach over and chug the entire bottle of Dakota’s spiked Kool-Aid.

"I've been trying not to think about what might've happened. I just really want to find her.” She was going for laid-back with a touch of reasonable concern, but she ended up spitting out the words. The image struck something bitter deep into her bones that made it hard to speak or blink or breathe. Dakota must not have been as obtuse as he appeared, because he picked up on it and started to realize that the situation was actually pretty tragic. He blushed a little (but that could've easily been the alcohol, and there was no way for Reyna to tell) and frowned in apology.

“Good, good,” he slurred. “That's very mature. I know I would lose it if my best friend went missing. Especially with all the dead girls these da-”

“Hey, Dakota. Why don't you go over there to the front. A girl just lost her dog and I'm sure she'd love your help finding him.,” a woman said, cutting off what might’ve been the most uncomfortable situation Reyna ever had in all her 16 years of living. Dakota stumbled out of the chair and went over to help the little girl. Reyna silently prayed for her.

“Sorry about that, Reyna,” the woman said. She was a short woman with dark brown skin and angular eyes that held a scary sort of smothered cruelty, like she wanted to kill everyone in the vicinity but was trying very hard to keep herself from doing so. Reyna had heard all the rumors about Nina Nakamura having the expression of a murderer, but she never really believed it until she saw her up close. It didn’t make her feel any better about her situation.

“It's just that stuff this big hardly ever happens in small towns like Agesander. Mostly we just deal with missing pets, egged houses, that sort of thing. A lot of the officers here are happy to work on a case that actually matters. You'll have to excuse their, ah, _excitement_.”

“I understand.”

She didn’t understand. She didn’t think that she'd ever understand how anybody could be excited about Annabeth disappearing, and the fact that anybody could feel anything but dread while Reyna herself felt like locking herself away and screaming made her stomach burn. She tried not to show it. She didn’t want to get on Nina’s bad side.

“That's great. I know how hard this must be for you,” Nina said. It sounded weird to have condolences come out of her mouth. They were out of character. She looked like she had to force herself to say them. Reyna thought she would’ve been much happier as a serial killer than as a cop.

“I’m okay, for the most part,” Reyna said, and it’s half true—she wasn’t visibly freaking out, at least—so she didn’t feel _too_ bad about saying it. “Annabeth’s not dead for sure. She could come back, right?” Nina fought to hide a grin, but Reyna didn’t know if it was a _'you poor thing'_ grin or an _'are you fucking serious?'_ grin. Both were pretty bad coming from the woman the kids called Nemesis.

“That’s a...nice way to look at it, but we have to be realistic. She was reported missing about three days after she left, and anything could’ve happened during that time that we’re just too late for.”

Reyna changed her mind: Dakota was much better to talk to than Nina. At least Dakota ignored her. Nina was brutally honest, and honesty was the last thing Reyna needed.

“Luckily, this is a very small town,” she continued, “and Annabeth was a very popular girl.” _Was._ Past tense. “Everybody will do their best to try and find her. Don’t you want to help find your friend?”

“Yes.” 

“Good. All you need to do is answer a few questions about Annabeth and your friendship with her, ok?” Reyna nods and Nina pulls out a tiny notebook and pen.

“Would you say that you and Annabeth were close?” Reyna wanted to laugh because Nina knew damn well that they were best friends. Anybody who saw them together would know. It was like she could a physically change in the air when they were together. They were Rachel and Monica, Thelma and Louise, and Daria and Jane all wrapped up in one and everybody knew it.

“We’re best friends. We live right next door to each other.”

“Did she have any other close friends?”

“Yeah, we have a group.”

“Names?” She knew them already.

“My brother and sister, Jason Grace, Percy Jackson, Frank Zhang, Leo Valdez, and Piper McLean.” The gang. Her closest friends. Seven people who would never be the same because of this. Reyna wondered how they were holding up. If they were as crushed as she was. She wondered if they got any voicemails and if they had anything to hide. They probably did.

“When was the last time you saw or had any contact with Annabeth?”

“Two days before she went missing.” Reyna imagined a tiny lie detector in her brain flashing red and beeping. Nina didn’t look like she knew she’s being lied to, but Reyna rehearsed it enough that she thought it could convince a real lie detector if she had one.

“Did she seem unusual? Any erratic behavior that we should know about?”

“Not really.” _Beep! Lie!_ “She was a little upset because her parents had a small argument, but that happens every now and then. She’s always gotten over it.” _Beep!_

 

“Did she ever mention running away from home?” Reyna shook her head.

“She never brought it up to me.” _Y_ _ou got me there,_ the inner lie detector grumbled, _It’s true._

 

“Can you think of anyone who might want to harm Annabeth? Or maybe somebody with an intense interest in her?”

This question was the hardest. She knew it was coming before she even stepped in the police station. She practiced her answer over and over again in her bathroom mirror until she had convinced herself that she could say it to someone else’s face. Lying was never something Reyna was a fan of, and the bigger the lie, the harder it was to say. Lies always tasted like vomit.

“No,” she said after getting rid of tears that formed in the corners of her eyes. She made sure to leave them there long enough for Nina to see them. Tears made people seem genuine. Crying about a missing friend was believeable. Nina noticed them and looked almost sympathetic. _See,_ Reyna said to herself, _even Nemesis believes you._   

“Of course not. She was always so nice to everybody. I can’t think of anyone who would ever want to hurt Annabeth Chase."

* * *

“Oh, Reyna, I am so sorry about this,” Persephone, Reyna’s third mother, told her in the car ride home with her family. She couldn’t stand silence and with the local darling MIA, there wasn’t much conversation, despite the four other passengers. “You’re such a strong girl. I really admire how well you’ve been handling all this.” Her Texas Southern Belle accent made _admire_ sound like _ad-my-ah_ and _handling_ sound like _hand-el-en_ and Reyna felt oddly comforted by it. Persephone herself was comforting, with gentle Vietnamese features and a soft voice. She married Reyna’s father, Hades, when Reyna was ten, two years after he had adopted her. Persephone was only twelve years older than her—and Reyna sometimes thought she was six years younger—but she was the only mother Reyna ever truly had and the kindest woman she’s ever known. She was easy to love.

“I know it must be awful to hear that your friend is gone,” she continued when Reyna didn’t respond. “I promise that next time we go to church I’ll ask everybody to keep Annie in their prayers. We have to leave it to the Lord now. I know she’ll be found, though. God would never let anything bad happen to a girl as sweet as Annie. She was always so nice in church, and so smart. Wasn’t Annie just the sharpest little thing you’d ever met?”

The question was directed at Hades, who sat in the shotgun seat while talking business on his phone. He was a dark, brooding man that could scare the living daylights out of the average person without even realizing it, but he was surprisingly good with his children and his wife at times.Still, Reyna had a hard time accepting that Persephone picked him as a husband. Despite the incredibly ironic names, they were so different. Even as she spoke he was too tied up with business and maintaining his old money status that he accidentally ignored her question. But Persephone wasn’t offended; she did enough talking for the both of them. All she did was pet his gel-glossed black hair and turn to the kids in the backseat.

“How about we all go to Stoll’s for some ice cream?” she said when they stopped at a red light. “I think we could all use some cheering up.”

Reyna nodded and thanked her, as did her two siblings, but she wasn’t not thinking about ice cream. Nico, her brother, didn’t seem that excited about it either. He just stared out of his window at the passing buildings, humorless and mopey as always. Reyna always laughed about how people could always immediately tell that Nico was Hades’s biological son. Aside from the matching olive skin, dark hair, and black eyes, they were both so reserved and sullen all the time. She had known Nico for years and still had trouble figuring out what he was thinking or how he felt.

Hazel, the youngest and arguably the nicest, was the only one besides Persephone who didn’t appear to feel like tearing their hair out and screaming. In fact, she seemed even happier than normal, like she was trying to compensate for how lackluster everyone else was. Her umber skin practically glowed and her already bright, golden eyes gleamed with the same energy that made her tiny arms wave happily. She was probably the only person in town who was truly trying to be as positive as possible about this out of the good of her heart. It was hard to believe that she and Nico shared a dad. It’d be easier to believe that she was Persephone’s daughter. At least they had the same personality.

They got to Stoll’s ice cream shop quickly. It was an old, run down shack with a peeling yellow paint job and faded blue letters (courtesy of the then-10 year old Stoll brothers) that read _'Stollz'_ in big letters and _'We make ~~ice~~ cream'_ in smaller ones. Everybody figured that it was used for storage decades ago and the Stoll family bought it for a few pennies. But it sold the best ice cream in town and the Stoll family was easygoing on pricing, so nobody complained about the risk of lead poisoning from the shitty paint. Hazel ran out of the car like a winning racehorse and Persephone skipped after her.

“Why are they always so happy all the time?” Nico asked when they were gone, with more curiosity than bitterness. Hades was still in the car, but he was too busy on his phone to pay attention to their conversation. It was pretty much just Reyna and her brother.

“Some people are just naturally happy, I guess. We weren’t so lucky.” Nico made a raspberry with his mouth that practically dripped teenage angst and Reyna giggled. Hearing it made Nico crack the tiniest of smiles, which made her laugh even more. She knew he’s hurting, too. He was scarily good at hiding it since he was never very emotional, but Reyna knew that he had been really close with Annabeth. Hazel too, but she always found a way to stay peppy. Reyna and Nico couldn't do that on their own. They had to rely on each other for cheering up, and they always had a strange way of doing it.

“Don’t be too upset,” Nico said. “She’d be so happy if she saw how many people are worried about her. She lives for praise.” Reyna didn’t laugh, but it made her feel better that Nico said _lives_ and not _lived_. She wanted to keep acting like Annabeth was still alive, no matter how slim the chances were.

“And at least we know that we’re doing all we can, right?” he added. Reyna paused. Nico felt her body tense up from where he sat next to her, but Reyna covered his mouth before he could comment. She quickly glanced over to Hades to make sure that he was still on his cell phone before opening the passenger door and shoving Nico out of the car.

“What the he-”

“I have to tell you something,” Reyna cut in. “You can’t tell anybody. Well, I guess you can tell Hazel and the rest of our friends, but absolutely _nobody_ else. I need you to swear.” Nico half-grinned, probably thinking she was playing a joke on him.

“ _Sure_ ,” he drawled, “I swear on the life of me, my dead mother, and the children I will probably never have that I won’t tell your secret. Except to Hazel. And the rest of our friends.” Reyna didn’t laugh.

“It’s about Annabeth.” Nico’s smile dropped before she can even finish saying her name. “She called me the day she went missing.”

Nico became silent, which was infinitely more worrying than if he started screaming. His black eyes seemed to turn darker, like his pupils swallowed the whites and the irises. Reyna took a step back. She would never admit it, but her brother scared her sometimes. He was stoic, sure, but underneath that was complex, intense coil of (usually conflicting) emotions, like a thick, untieable knot.

“You said that the last time you contacted her was days before she left,” he said. He voice was eerily calm. Reyna wished that he would start screaming instead. Screaming was expected. She could handle screaming.

“I couldn’t tell the police about it.”

“Why the hell _not_?” he yelled.  _Finally_ , Reyna said in her head with relief, but she still didn’t want him attracting attention. A couple eating ice cream on the cheap lawn chair Stoll’s had for outside furniture turned to them. They looked bored and intrigued, which was the worst thing bystanders could be if you were trying to keep a secret. Rumors spread fast in tiny towns like hers and she did not want anybody talking about this.

“Keep your voice down,” she hissed. It made him even angrier and she could hear his breath push through his clenched teeth.

“Why should I? I want to know what the hell you were thinking,” he said at a normal volume. He was smart enough to not want any attention either, but Reyna could tell that he was not letting her go without an explanation.

“She said not to call the police.” It was a weak excuse, and Reyna knew it, but it was easier than the real one.

“So? She could’ve died out there, Reyna. Wasn’t it worth going against her wishes just this one time? We could’ve gotten a lead. Hell, we could’ve found her!”

“It was about the incident,” she said. It was only a whisper, barely loud enough for Nico to hear, but sounded too loud in her ears. She watched the blood drain from Nico’s face as he understood what she was saying. They both looked around them to make sure that nobody heard them. Nobody was looking their way, but it suddenly felt like the trees had eyes and they were watching them. And judging.  

“What did she say about it?” he whispered. The anger was gone. The fear in his voice took up too much room for it to stay.

“All she said was that it had to do with the incident a few years ago. If I told the cops, they would ask me questions about it or do some investigating. They would have to figure out that the incident was pretty big to have caused her to disappear and I couldn’t risk it.”

Nico nodded, still upset but with a resigned understanding. “Ok. Ok, I get it. But still, this is huge. the police could find out that you’re lying to them.”

“I only got voicemails and I already deleted them all. Annabeth’s phone went missing with her, so nobody will find it since nobody knows she called me. This town isn’t up to date on technology anyways.”

“That’s good, but...”

“But we could’ve found her,” Reyna finished. Nico looks at his feet, ashamed, but he nodded and spoke.

“What if she’s dead because of us?”

Reyna thought about that, too. She had been thinking about it since she deleted all traces of her best friend from her phone and swallowed down her guilt with a morning glass of orange juice. But Reyna had to pull herself together and practice lying in front of her mirror and keep a straight face when the news was announced and she wasn’t going to let her brother fall apart like she almost did. Not with everything at stake.

“Do you have any idea how bad it would be if anybody found out what we did?” She snapped. Nico winced and Reyna knew that her tone was too cruel and that she should be more gentle, but she couldn’t. “They would probably lose all sympathy for Annabeth. They might stop trying to look for her. And they sure as hell wouldn’t want us in their town anymore. This wouldn’t just screw over you and me, it would get all of us. You, me, Hazel, Jason, Frank, Percy, Piper, Leo,” she frantically counted the number on her hands for emphasis, “that’s eight people getting fucked. Add Annabeth and it’s nine. We can’t risk this.” Everything she said was true, and she thought about Nina’s brutal honesty biting her in the ass.

“I get it,” Nico said. “I really do. I just can’t help but feel bad. Our friend is gone.”

“I know. But I can’t go to jail. You know how important it is that I can’t go to jail. I can’t do it, Nico, I can’t go.” Tears fell and Reyna stopped. Nico wrapped his arm around her shoulder to comfort her, but Reyna thought they he just wanted something to hold on to.

“Aw, you poor things,” a voice said behind them. Startled, the pair jumped apart and scrambled to look for the voice. They turned around and saw Persephone with Hazel. They both had pistachio ice cream cones. Persephone was smiling brightly, but Hazel looked uncharacteristically distant and blank-faced. It didn’t look like they overheard their confession.

“I know Annabeth going missing has been hard on y’all,” she said sweetly. Reyna nearly passed out with relief and started to breathe again. “But please don’t cry. I hate seeing my babies so upset.”

She dug in her purse and pulled out a few pieces of paper. “Here,” she said as she handed them over to Reyna and Nico. “They’re flyers. I saw Silena Beauregard—a lovely girl, that one—and she gave me some to pass out. This way you two can make sure everybody knows what happened. That way we can find her even sooner?”

Persephone looked so hopeful and eager that Reyna didn’t have the heart to remind her that everybody already knew. It would’ve be pointless to.

Nico took a stack and headed over to Stoll’s to pass out some flyers. Reyna could see the red in his eyes but she tried not to worry about him. He would drown his guilt in vanilla ice cream like she drowned hers. He would survive. She took a stack of flyers herself and silently walked over to the nearest lawn chair to pass one out to somebody after giving her stepmother a friendly smile.

But she didn’t pass them out. She just held one in her hand and stared at it. The flyer read _Local Girl Gone Missing: If you see this girl please call the number under the photo_ with a cheery Annabeth beneath it. It was a nice photo. The tan in the picture, which was deeper than her normal tanned skin, told her that it must’ve been one of the pictures Hazel took of her last summer for her photography class. She was wearing a light tank top and her usual shorts with her hair carelessly thrown back into a ponytail. She had been caught mid-laugh and all her pretty white teeth were visible.

Reyna always liked to look at Annabeth, whether she admitted it or not. She always looked so regal, especially with her intense grey eyes. She wasn’t drop dead gorgeous per se. Very pretty, but there was something else that Reyna could never put her finger on. There was just something about Annabeth that made people want to keep looking. Striking. Everybody thought so.

Reyna wondered what people would think about Annabeth if they knew what she did. They probably wouldn’t find her as attractive.

But Reyna pushed that out of her head and put the flyer back in the stack with the rest of them. Instead she thought about what she said to Nina Nakamura in the police station barely a half an hour ago:

_I can’t think of anyone who would ever want to hurt Annabeth Chase._

Her inner lie detector went wild.

 


	2. old friends should stay in the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna has a hard time letting things go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> huge thank you to grace (jaslco on tumblr) and zari (pennyprovd on tumblr) for being my betas and helping me write this extremely difficult chapter

_July 18, 2015, 2:15 pm_

Orange was never Reyna’s favorite color, so she always hated at the irony of having to see it every time she visited her sister. If Reyna were in charge of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (the dressed up name for the Chicago prison), the first thing she’d do is change the color of the uniforms to something less gaudy. Maybe a nice, deep purple.

“Hey, little sister, almost thought you weren't coming,” Hylla says in soft Spanish when Reyna hugs her. They’re only allowed to hug at the beginning and end of a visit, so Reyna makes sure to make the most of it. Hylla’s always warm and solid, the rock that keeps Reyna from slowly drifting away. The guard always makes them separate after too long, so Reyna pulls away before he has to come over. She hates the prison guards sometimes. They look so hateful, like they’re judging her for being related to an inmate.

“Sorry I'm late. I was really busy with my roommate and then the train was delayed and everything went to hell,” Reyna answers in her native tongue. Spanish rolls so prettily off her lips, but nobody in her adoptive family speaks it. Visiting Hylla is the only time she can use it freely. “But I promise I’ll come next week. I swear I won’t forget.”

“I believe you, Rey. You visit more than most, not that I know a lot of people outside of home sweet home,” Hylla laughs, even though she knows Reyna hates those jokes. If Hylla is bothered by the fact that she’s serving 20 to life, she doesn’t show it. If anything she seems perfectly at ease in prison. Sometimes she tells Reyna about the bizarre prison culture and all the friends she’s made like it doesn’t even matter that she can’t leave.

“You know, I was thinking earlier about your sentence. 20 to life with possibility of parole, right?”

She nods. “And?”

“It’s been about 17 years. You’ll be eligible for parole soon.” Hylla’s dark eyes don’t move and her expression is so unaffected that Reyna thinks she might not have heard her, but she persists. “You could stay with me and my roommate. Our place is a little small but it’d be fun. I haven’t had time alone with you since I was, what, eight? You’ve been a model prisoner and I’m sure they’d approve.”

“I don’t doubt it,” she says, rubbing a few thick strands of black hair between her fingers. A nervous habit, she called it, and Reyna knew that whenever she saw it, she was in for something she wasn’t going to like.

“What?” Reyna asks.

“I’m not going to apply for parole.”

“But it’s so close!” Reyna groans. They’ve had this conversation so many times for five years and she still gets the same answer.

“I don’t want to leave,” Hylla insists. “I wouldn’t know what to do if I did. I got in here when I was 18 and a drop out, nobody’s going to hire a con who didn’t even finish high school. And if I don’t get a job how am I going to pay for all the food I eat and the clothes on my back? You don’t have a job and Gwen’s a waitress.”

“Gwen’s job pays good money and I don’t have a job because the di Angelo’s pay for everything. They’re loaded, you wouldn’t need a job.”

“I’m a grown woman, Reyna, I’m not going to let my little sister’s family do everything for me,” Hylla says with a new bitterness. She’s always been sensitive about the di Angelo’s, especially their money. Up until she got adopted Hylla was the one who provided for her, and she didn’t have the money or social status that the di Angelo’s had. It wounded her pride to know that someone else was doing her job, and that they were far more equipped to do it.

“I’m not saying that they’ll do everything for you, just help you get back on your feet. They wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

“I _don’t_ want charity.”

“It’s not charity. I’m a part of their family and you’re a part of mine. They’d just be helping.”

“I don’t want their help,” Hylla says too loudly. The guards don’t understand Spanish, but they have to come over and ask her to keep it down and stay calm. It’s one of the worst parts of visiting someone; there’s no freedom. You have to regulate everything you say or the visits stop. But neither of them want trouble, so Hylla calms down. She’s pissed on the inside but as long as she’s quiet about it, the guards don’t care.

“I miss being with you,” Reyna admits. “We’ve been separated for so long and you’re the only blood family I have.”

The anger slips out of Hylla as she speaks. She sighs in defeat and reaches over to touch her sister’s hand. They aren’t allowed to hold hands, but they can touch the tips of their fingers together. It’s not much, but the contact soothes Reyna’s nerves. Hylla practically raised her; their dad was never involved and their mom disappeared when Reyna was three. Persephone and Maria—her first adoptive mother, who died less than a year after she was adopted—were nice and she loved them both, but whenever she pictured her mother she saw Hylla’s face smiling down at her.

“I miss you too,” Hylla says. “You were more a daughter to me than a sister when we were growing up. It near broke my heart to see you leave. But I love you too much to hold you back. You can’t spend the rest of your days worrying about me. You’ve always been so smart and determined. You can do so much, but not if I’m in your way.”

“You’d never be in my way,” Reyna insists. She hasn’t cried in nine years, but she feels tears well up behind her eyes. “I need you. You’re my sister.”

“You have your adoptive sisters.”

“But they’re not like you.” Hylla sighs again, Reyna isn’t sure if it’s out of defeat or pity. Maybe both.

“Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano,” she says, which throws Reyna off because she’s been so used to having di Angelo at the end of her name, “I deserve to be here. I’m doing the time for what I did and I intend to stay for my entire sentence.”  

Reyna blinks to get rid of the tears. _The whole sentence,_ she thinks. _She’s going to be in here for the rest of her life._ The tears don’t fall, but she can feel them forming and they blur Hylla’s face when she looks at her. “You don’t deserve this,” she whispers. “You didn’t do anything wrong and we both know it.”

“Don’t say that,” Hylla says. Her voice is sterner than it was before and her eyes flicker towards the guards and the cameras. Reyna understands the warning, but she ignores it.

“It’s true,” she continues, “You don’t belong in here. You’re innocent and you shouldn’t be here.”

 _“Reyna,”_ Hylla snaps, making the guards glance over. Thankfully they don’t approach them, but it’s enough to get Reyna to stop.

“Reyna,” she repeats, “I’m not applying for parole. I committed second-degree murder with a stolen firearm and I deserve to be punished for it.” She softens for a few seconds, but there's still a strained edge to her voice. “I need you to stop worrying about me. You mean the world to me and I want you to move on. I love your visits but if you can’t move on I’m going to take you off the visitor’s list.”

Shocked into silence, Reyna simply nods.The rest of the visit passes in a blur, but not much goes on. They sit in silence as Hylla gently strokes Reyna’s hand, too preoccupied with their own thoughts to make conversation. All Reyna can think about is her sister’s threat. _Take me off the list? Hylla’s bluffing. She has to be bluffing,_ she thinks. _She only has three other people on her visitor’s list, and they don’t come as much as I do. She’d have nobody if I didn’t come. Why the hell would she push me away?_ Eventually the guards announce that the visiting session is up and the visitors have to leave. Reyna almost doesn’t catch it, but Hylla stands up and she follows suit. They hug for the last time before she leaves. It’s tighter this time; the thought of not being able to see her sister again makes Reyna miss her even more. Hylla holds her close and gently runs her finger through Reyna’s hair. Reyna buries her head into Hylla’s neck like she did when she was a waddling toddler and the world was new and terrifying.

“Don’t bring up that up again, ok?” Hylla whispers into her hair. "And I don't want you to visit tomorrow. Give yourself a break." She’s tired of arguing, so Reyna just nods and puts on a fake smile when the guards take her sister away.

 

* * *

 

“Is it safe to drink expired liquor? I’m asking for a friend,” a sickly Gwen asks Reyna when she walks into their condo. A funny thing about Gwen: she hardly ever drinks any alcohol, but when she does, she always gets absolutely hammered. She’s convinced herself that she can hold her alcohol, but in reality she’s the lightest of lightweights and can’t even drink a can of Miller Lite without it going to her head. Gwen's a good roommate and a better friend, so normally Reyna doesn’t mind, but her plate feels like it’s about to crack if anything else falls on it and handling a drunk Gwen is a task that requires a brighter mood than her.

“Please tell me you didn’t drink expired liquor,” Reyna says once she's inside.

“I said I was asking for a friend. And yeah, I did, please help.” Reyna moans aloud and reluctantly walks over to Gwen. She’s sprawled out on their tiny red faux-leather couch, dyed pink hair fanned out around her dark face. Her t-shirt is too small to belong to her and her skirt is stained with some alcoholic drink that Reyna doesn’t know or want to know the name of. She’s barefoot to top it all off, but she looks more like an indie model posing for a CD and less like the hot mess she is in reality. Gwen has always been pretty.

“If you’re going to get drunk, please get drunk in the bathroom. You’re going to stain the couch,” Reyna chastises. Gwen grumbles something that sounds like “I’m not drunk” in response and reaches out a hand so Reyna can help her up. She obliges and helps her walk to the bathroom, which is made even harder since Gwen has to lean on Reyna for support.

“You need to stop drinking so much in one sitting,” Reyna says when they’re in the bathroom and Gwen’s kneeling before the toilet. She’s holding back her friend’s hair and it almost looks like pink satin in her hands.

“I didn’t drink that much,” Gwen says. “I went to a bar with this guy and they gave me a shot of this old liquor and it made me sick. It had to have been 50 years old or something and it had eggs and milk in it, so of course it tasted awful. But I wanted to look cool or whatever so I drank it and I ended up throwing up on him. He got so mad that he threw his drink on me and I had to borrow the bartender’s shirt. The media is poisoning our minds, he never would’ve thrown his drink if it weren’t for reality TV.”

“One shot of liquor got you this sick?”

Gwen nods. “We should sue. I can feel my stomach folding in on itself. But that’s not all: When I was going into your room to see if you had any medicine—hope you don’t mind—I tripped over a bunch of boxes and slammed my head into the floor. Now I have food poisoning _and_ a concussion.” She stops to throw up in the toilet. It makes a slick wet sound that makes Reyna want to puke herself.

“Anyways, I’m not drunk,” Gwen says. “Which sucks because if I have to puke everywhere and have a massive headache, I should at least be drunk for it.” She stands up and flushes the toilet with her big toe. “Speaking of massive headaches, why do you have so many boxes in your room for your poor roommate to trip over when she’s at her weakest?”

“I have them as protection so my nosy roommate can’t go into my room when I’m not there,” Reyna says as she opens the medicine cabinet to get some Listerine and a bottle of painkillers. Gwen sticks her tongue out and grabs the Listerine, choosing to use it to wash down the painkillers. Reyna grimaces, but Gwen doesn’t seem fazed.

“Well I’m never going into your room ever again, so they did their job. But seriously, we’ve lived here since college and you’re still not done packing?”

Reyna shrugs and starts to go to her room. “I probably had a good reason for not opening them.”

“Well now you don’t. Let’s see what’s inside,” Gwen says excitedly, her headache momentarily forgotten as she follows Reyna.

“They’re probably just filled with junk, there’s no point. I don’t want this place to get messy.”

“I clean every day,” Gwen says, which is true. One of the reasons why Reyna picked Gwen for a roommate was because she was notoriously clean and organized when it came to her living space, even if her personal life was pretty scattered. “If anything gets messy, I’ll take care of it.”

“I thought you were sick,” Reyna says as she jumps onto her bed. She always loved her room. It was much smaller than her room in Agesander, but Reyna never liked having all that space. All she had in her room for furniture was a desk for her laptop, a queen sized bed, an old bookshelf, and a closet. The bare walls were a light purple that brightened it up a little and the carpet was a dull gold. It was simple and Reyna liked it that way. The only thing that stood out was the pile of boxes near the door.

“I’ve been miraculously cured by my curiosity,” Gwen says. “I’ll probably die from fever if we don’t open them. Satisfying my curiosity is the only cure.” Reyna throws a pillow at her and Gwen catches it with ease. “C’mon, Rey, it’ll be fun. Like a trip down memory lane or something.”

Reyna looks at the boxes. They’ve been there for so long that she’s forgotten what was inside them and it shows. They’re all covered in dust and have small wrinkles in the faded, splotchy brown cardboard. She doesn’t even remember why she would bring them with her. One of the reasons why she went to college in Chicago in the first place, aside from being able to visit her sister, was to leave Agesander behind. She loved the town, but it became a haunted, dangerous place after Annabeth disappeared, and she wanted to bleach it from her memory. But that was nine years ago. Now she misses Agesander and all its little quirks. She misses Stoll’s ice cream shop and playing on Castellan’s Jump when her parents weren’t looking. Everything that made her broken childhood a little better came from that town. Sometimes she thought about her old house and she found that she couldn’t remember some of the details, like the shape of the windows or the designs on the doorknob. It made her upset, the thought of her happy memories fading away.

 _And a distraction would be nice,_ she thinks when she remembers her earlier visit with her sister. _I’d rather think about anything else. Anything other than not being able to visit Hylla._

“You know what?” Reyna says. “I wouldn’t want my roommate to die of an unsatisfied curiosity.”

Gwen claps and grins with all her wide, white teeth. “I’ll go get the scissors.”

* * *

 

The boxes were deceptively small. Reyna and Gwen figured that there would just be a few old books or dolls from Reyna’s childhood, but the reality is that her entire life in Agesander had been boxed away. Old report cards, science projects, doodles, notebooks, and photographs, photographs, photographs. She had enough pictures to fill ten photo albums minimum. There were pictures of her when she was a scared eight year old meeting her new siblings for the first time. The picture of her on her first day as a di Angelo was her favorite. Bianca, Hades’s daughter from Maria, was still living with them at the time, so the picture showed little Reyna staring up at her new big sister as an even tinier Nico held her hand and Hazel, the tiniest of them all, tugged at her dress. She could probably keep track of the years using all the pictures, even though few of them had dates.

“Your family is full of pack rats,” Gwen says as she holds up a small clump of dark hair tied with a pink bow. The bow reads _Reyna’s first haircut as part of the family_ in small, neat handwriting. Reyna remembers when she got that haircut. It was when Maria was still alive. She adored Reyna and wanted to make sure that she had all the stuff her siblings had, so she bought her a first Christmas ornament, took pictures of her first steps into the house, and kept the hair from her first haircut for a scrapbook. Reyna didn’t remember Maria as well as she wanted to, but she remembered that she didn’t have a mean bone in her body.

“A good thing, too,” Reyna says while she sorts out her old art projects. “This would be pretty boring if they weren’t.”

“I don’t think your family could ever be boring,” Gwen says. “You probably have the most interesting family in the United States.”

“Not true.”

“Yes true. Look at your step-mom,” Gwen says as she hands Reyna a black and white photograph of Persephone. It’s not candid like the others and looks like it was professionally taken. She’s wearing her casual Sunday best and holding a parasol. She looks like a model, all clear skin and bright smiles. “She’s hotter than me. It’s not fair that your step-mom is older but somehow hotter than me.”

“She’s barely a decade older than you and ew, don’t talk about my mom like that,” Reyna says as she looks at the photograph. “Besides, I think this was taken before she married my dad, so she’s probably around 20 here.”

“Wasn’t your dad like a hundred when they got married?” Gwen jokes. “Not that I’m judging.” Reyna throws an old stuffed lion at Gwen’s head, but she’s laughing along with her. She barely remembers the talk with her sister or how scary Agesander was when her friend went missing.

“What’s in this box?” Gwen asks, pointing to the only unopened box left. It looks more damaged than the other boxes, but it’s not so damaged that she would want to throw it out. Gwen gets up and brings it over with difficulty. It’s worn at the edges and it looks like it might fall apart in her arms if she’s not careful.

“This thing is fucking ancient,” Gwen complains as she drops it on the ground in front of Reyna. Up close it looks even more worn. The stains are and dark and wide as inkblots and it smells like old books or abandoned houses, all old and mildewy. The tape is dark yellow and it cracks and peels, so at least they don’t need scissors to open it. She pushes a sharp nail under the tape and it pops right open.

“Woah,” Gwen says. “I take it back, this box is the coolest.” She reaches in and takes out a BB gun. It’s small and probably too old to be in working condition, but it looks like a real gun instead of a toy. She reaches in again and pulls out a black cigarette holder as long as her arm and as slim as a pencil.

“I never knew you smoked.”

“I’ve smoked, like, three cigarettes in my entire life. And that’s not mine. Neither is the gun,” Reyna says. She’s seen them both before, though, and she knows it. She just doesn't know where.

“Then can I have this cigarette holder?” Gwen asks. “I don’t even smoke, but this thing looks so cool. It’s just like the one Audrey Hepburn had in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. My mom loves that shitty movie, she’d go nuts for this thing.”

 _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. Reyna remembers that movie. She remembers how her best friend loved old movies and begged her to watch it with her. She remembers criticizing every aspect of the film for fun and giggling about it, pretending to be movie critics. She remembers blonde curls and grey eyes because she was paying more attention to her friend than the movie.

“Oh my God,” Reyna says. It’s too soft for Gwen to hear it, but it wasn’t for Gwen. It just slipped out of her mouth when she remembered how Annabeth wanted to buy a cigarette holder like Holly’s because she thought it looked classy. Reyna had reminded her that smoking kills and Annabeth just laughed.

“You look tense,” Gwen says, bringing Reyna back to the present. She looks down at the box and starts rifling through it. There’s the beaded necklace she made, each bead marking a past summer. An old book of basic architecture she got for Christmas. The photograph of her mother that she pretended she didn’t have. Reyna pulled out the bright orange t-shirt Annabeth got from the summer camp Agesander had a for a few years. It closed before Reyna got there, so the shirt was old and small. Annabeth got it in the largest size available so that she could grow into it. It used to read _Camp Half-Blood_ , but the letters are too faded to read now. She holds it up her chest and notes that she can still smell the lemon shampoo Annabeth used.

“I can’t believe it,” Reyna says. “I haven’t seen this stuff in so long. I thought her parents threw it away.”

“Whose parents? Whose stuff is this?”

“It’s Annabeth’s,” Reyna says. Gwen’s expression drops and she forms one of surprise and pity. Reyna told her years after they met about how her friend went missing. She didn’t think Gwen really believed it until now. Teenagers going missing always seemed like an abstract concept, one of those things that happens but not in real life. Annabeth was like a myth to her, a character in a sob story that her roommate told her to prove her trust.

“Um, do you need a minute or something?” Gwen asks carefully. It’s always been a sensitive topic for Reyna, which is why it never gets brought up. Reyna figures that she must look like she jumped into ice water or something.

“No,” she says. “No. I’m ok. I just didn’t know that this was here. Just caught me off guard.” Gwen nods but still keeps a respectful distance from Reyna and the box, which Reyna is silently grateful for. But it’s still too much for her to handle. Looking at her friend’s old stuff is like diving headfirst into every bad memory she’s ever had. Even now she gets glimpses of blood soaked hair and peeled back nails. Half of her wants to throw it out just to get it out of her house.

 _I’ll just return it,_ Reyna thinks. _Maybe her parents want it, or some of our other friends. Put it in a new box and be done with it._ And she almost closes it. But a thin, dark book catches her eye before she can. It’s hidden under the other stuff, but a small corner peeks out. It’s not extraordinary or anything; it’s just a simple notebook with a black cover. Annabeth’s name is in the corner in silver, but other than that’s there’s no decoration. But unlike everything else in the box, Reyna’s never seen this book before. It doesn’t look like anything important, so she flips through it. The entries are dated months apart and some of them are only a paragraph long. There are a few full paged entries, but most of the pages are blank except for some weird doodles. They look like circular Greek letters. Reyna keeps flipping until she finds a date that stands out to her.

_June 28, 2003_

_Some people introduce themselves in their diaries, but that doesn’t make any sense. The whole point of a diary is that it’s private. Why write in it like someone’s going to read it. I hope nobody reads this._

_I hate diaries. I don’t have a good reason for it, but I do. It just seems pointless to write down every little thing that happens in your life. My life’s pretty boring. Why record it. Savannah gave this to me today and told me to start writing. She said that it would be good for me. Savannah doesn’t know what’s good for me. She thinks that she can boss me around because she’s my step-mother, which I guess is true. But I don’t have to like it. She’s not my mom. I don’t have to listen to her. I don’t even listen to Athena, and she gave birth to me. I don’t have to listen to any of them. I don’t have a mom. I don’t have parents. I just have people that I’m forced to live with, and I only share blood with three of them. But my brothers also share blood with Savannah which makes them not my brothers in my book. One drop of Savannah blood means that the whole body is tainted. And I don’t care for my dad so I’m not counting him as my blood either._

_There isn’t much to say. Today I went jogging in the woods with my friends. I’m on the track team and I have to practice. Only Piper is on the track team with me, but all my friends went with us anyway. I like that about my friends. We’re always there for each other. I think that friends are more important than family. I love my friends much more than my parents or my brothers. But we didn’t do much else. Sometimes we talked about school and our parents and stuff but that’s it. There’s not a lot to in small towns and my town is teeny-tiny. It’s so small that it’s not even on the map. Nobody comes here unless they have family here. And once you’re here you stay forever. I’m probably going to marry Percy or Jason or Frank (hopefully not Leo) and we’re going to grow old here and watch our kids do everything we did when we were little. It’s a little boring. But it’s nice here._

 

"Are you sure you should be reading that?" Gwen asks from a few feet away. Reyna doesn't hear her. She just reads the journal, checking and double checking the date over and over.

"I'm going to clean up," Gwen announces when Reyna doesn't answer her. "My mom wants me to go to temple with her and my spit still tastes like spoiled alcohol, so I should probably take care of that." She gets up and approaches her friend carefully, like she might run away if she's startled. "You should head for bed. You're visiting Hylla early tomorrow, right?"

She'd almost forgotten about her sister when they were opening up the boxes, and now everything comes rushing back to her. It must show on her face because Gwen takes one look at her and tells her goodnight and says that she'll bring her a cup of hot chocolate. When she leaves, Reyna picks herself up and falls back onto her bed, burying herself under the covers like a child. Sleep doesn't come to her easily, but when it does she's too busy thinking to feel it creep up on her.

 _It's fake_ , she thinks. _It's a fake journal._

* * *

 

“I found something important.”

“It’s three am.”

“Nico, I’m serious.”

“So am I. It’s literally three am.”

Reyna woke up almost immediately after she fell asleep but she doesn’t feel tired. She feels electrified in a bad way, like she bit down on a live wire and it's slowly cooking her brains. She’s clutching Annabeth’s notebook in her free hand but she can barely tell that it’s there, which is funny because it’s all she’s been thinking about since she found it.

“I found a bunch of Annabeth’s old stuff in my room,” she says. She can hear Nico’s interest peak when she says their friend’s name and she knows she has his full attention. She doesn’t know why she called him in particular, but she needed to talk to somebody who knew Annabeth. Besides, she knows she can count on her brother for almost anything, even when he's all the way across the country in California.

“Really,” he says, still groggy but much more enthusiastic than earlier. “What’d you find?”

Reyna hesitates, a part of her wanting to keep the little private piece of Annabeth she has left to herself. Annabeth kept secrets, that was well known. They all had secrets. But Annabeth and Reyna shared everything. She was Annabeth’s closest confidant and Annabeth was hers. They told each other about their dreams, their hopes, their fears, and their secrets most of all. She still wanted that feeling of being special, like she was the only one who could be trusted with Annabeth’s secrets.

“Reyna?”

“Right, yeah, sorry,” she says, shaking herself out of her daze. “I was just thinking. Anyways, I found pretty much everything. Her old clothes, her books, her toys, all of it.”

“Cool,” Nico says, much more excited now. “Could I see some of it? Man, I don’t think any of us got anything to remember her by. Not that we would forget. Maybe you could send over a book or something. When we were little she had these anatomy books that I loved. I couldn't read so she read them to me. She literally taught me how to read with those books.”

“Yeah sure, I'll look for one, but that’s not the important part. She had a journal.”

“So?”

“It’s fake. She had it for years but there’s barely anything in it and everything is set months apart. Most of it isn’t even writing, it’s just random drawings. And get this: none of this stuff ever happened. Remember the summer of 2003?"

"Definitely. That was probably our third most illegal summer. Didn't we burn down an abandoned house in June?"

"Yep. It was June 28 and our group found this old plantation in the woods and set it on fire." It had been a slow day, Reyna remembers. Leo found an empty house and they destroyed it just for the thrill of destroying it. They were always pulling stunts like that for kicks when they were bored. Reyna didn’t remember why or how they did it, but she couldn’t forget the flames. They were so bright that they lit up everything around them and washed it in gold light. Annabeth was brighter, though. She seemed to grow stronger with the flames, like they sustained her. The light reflected off her eyes and made them gold. Annabeth looked like some sort of faerie, all beautiful and powerful and barely human.

“Yeah,” Nico laughs. “That was fun. What about it?”

“She made up a story for that day. She said we were going out jogging.”

“We were jogging. We had to get away from the fire somehow. And it’s not that weird for her to make up something for that. Her parents probably went through that journal and she was smart enough to hide her secret criminal record from them. I know if I had a journal I wouldn't want our parents finding out about all the laws we broke.”

And that’s...a fair point. “True, but something about this rubs me the wrong way. If her parents were reading this why would she talk so much shit about her step-mom? Why fill up the pages with weird drawings?”

“Oh, what kind of weird drawings? Describe them in perfect detail so I can picture them perfectly. I love weird art."

"You do?"

"I’m gay. The gays love weird art, it's textbook.”

“It’s not really art,” Reyna says, trying to explain the doodles. They don’t even look like drawings, just random swirls of ink. She can’t make out any definite shape, but they’re all weirdly familiar for some reason. “Honestly it looks like she got high as hell on LSD and went to town. I have no idea what these are supposed to be. I guess they look a little bit like twisted letters.”

"Drug art is my favorite kind of art, but I don’t think Annabeth would do LSD. She was more a speed kind of girl. Adderall, maybe. But it kinda sounds like that secret code we made up when we were little.”

Reyna frowns, staring at the journal again. “What code?” she asks.

“The code. We made it by taking a bunch of regular letters, spinning them around, and keeping the ones we liked the most for the code. Long time ago,” he says. Reyna’s frown deepens and she sits upright in her bed.

“I don’t remember a code.”

“Ok. We still had one.”

“Well then why don’t I remember it?” Reyna complains. She digs her nails into the book in frustration, leaving deep crescent moons in the old paper.

“I think it was before you came,” Nico says. “I was, what, seven? Six maybe? I remember that Bianca hadn't moved to Italy yet and Hazel was tiny and my mom was still around.” His voice always drops when he talks about Maria, but Reyna knows that Nico hates talking about his feelings more than anything, so she doesn’t try to comfort him. “So yeah, I guess you weren’t around yet.”

“Oh,” is all Reyna says. “She never told me about it.” The hurt in her voice is poorly veiled.

“It’s not a big deal,” Nico says, picking up on Reyna’s hurt. “She probably just forgot about it. We barely used it. It wasn’t even a big thing, only me and Percy knew about it.”

Reyna nods even though she knows Nico can’t see her. It’s truly not a big deal at all, and she knows it, but she can’t help but feel a little hurt by the fact that Annabeth kept it from her. She told her everything no matter how small or unimportant it was and assumed that Annabeth did the same. She knows she's being petty, but it hurts.

“Wait,” Reyna says, “if it’s a code, all we have to do is crack it. You know the code, so why not?”

“Because I live in California and I don’t want to drive all the way down to Virginia to get the code sheet. I have a very fulfilling life here in Marina Del Rey, despite what Persephone might tell you.”

“You don’t remember it?”

“No. It was so many years ago, Rey, I don’t keep track of that sort of stuff. Besides, why does it matter? It probably just says 'Savannah Yeung-Chase can go to hell' or something like that."

Reyna flips through the rest of the book absentmindedly as he speaks. Most of it is coded, but there are some real drawings of buildings Annabeth designed and even a few portraits of her friends. The one of Reyna takes up a whole page. She only knows it's of her because her initials are written in the left hand corner. Annabeth was never good at drawing nature, only the mechanical lines of buildings and bridges and whatnot. Still, she loved to draw. She didn't care how bad she was as long as she was enjoying herself. Reyna smiles and flips past it. The pages after are nothing interesting, except for one unusually long entry. All the pages after it are blank. Curious, she skims through the entry, but the date at the top makes her head hurt and her heart climb up her throat.

"Nico, what were we doing the day Annabeth went missing?" He's so silent that Reyna thinks he hung up while she was reading.

"We were at home. I don't think we were doing anything special."

"She said that we were all hanging out that day," Reyna says. "Listen to this, 'My friends and I went out to Castellan's Jump. It's basically this huge cliff on the edge of town. Under it is this thin branch of the river and talk rocks. It's kind of sad there. It's called Castellan's Jump because years ago a lady named Mae Castellan jumped off and killed herself. She had a son named Luke and when he found out he drove his car off the same cliff. I like sad places, though. Sometimes I imagine that Mae and Luke are finally happy and that they watch over the kids at the Jump so that they don't fall off. That's why I wasn't scared today when I started running along the edge. My friends freaked out, but I felt safe. My friends made me stop eventually. It was getting a little late. Piper said she'd let me sleep over if I didn't want to go home, but I said no. I like being out on the Jump. I feel like if I just lean over the edge, I'll turn into a bird and start flying.' The date says August 30, 2006. That night she just vanished."

"Ok, that's a little suspicious," Nico admits reluctantly. "Does it say that she went home after?"

"There's more to the entry, but it doesn't say anything about going home. But she had to have gone home or else this thing would still be out in the woods back home. Do you think she went back out to the Jump? I know the journal is fake, but it's almost all she talks about in this entry. That has to mean something."

"It's possible. It's just not likely. Like you said, journal's fake. Why trust it? And why would she go back?"

It's a bad idea, or at least a silly one, but it latches onto Reyna's brain the second Nico says It's possible. "We should go back home."

A pause. “You’re not funny.”

“I’m serious. Something happened to her and I don’t know what, but we should at least try to look for her. I haven't stopped thinking about what might've happened to her.”

“It’s been nine years. If she’s alive, she’s not in Agesander and she’s definitely not the same. And if she’s not… there’s nothing we can do about that. A fake diary won't change anything."

“The police back home sucked; they barely looked for her. If we can find a body, we can at least give her a proper funeral. Besides, it'd give us something exciting to do. Neither of us have jobs."

"I happen to enjoy leeching off my rich parents. And there's nothing exciting about Agesander now. We can't just break the law for fun like we did when we were teenagers."

"Why aren't you at least curious about what happened? Will we find her? Maybe not, but at least we looked. She’s my best friend, Nico.”

“She was my friend, too,” Nico says cooly. “I knew her better than you did. I grew up with her. You just want to go because you feel guilty about that whole phone call situation.”

Reyna feels the venom in his tone, but she presses on. “Then you should want this more than I do. Since you two were closer.”

“Fuck you.” He hangs up. The phone rings two minutes later.

“I'm sorry. That was mean and I'm really sorry. I'm just sad. I'm sad and I'm angry but not at you I just made myself not think about this for years and now it's here again. I want her to have a nice funeral. She once told me about the kind of funeral she’d want if she died before me. She wanted to be buried in bright colors. No makeup, but all the jewelry she was ever given as a gift. She wanted a French braid with little white flowers in it. She told me that. She even wanted all the guests to wear bright colors. She said that she wanted her funeral to be bright and happy because she loved us too much to have us cry over her. She wanted everybody to leave feeling blessed and knowing that she was watching over them. She actually said that to me. It was so sappy and I really loved it. She was such a good person, Rey. She fucked up like the rest of us but she was so good and she's probably dead and her body is probably all gross and decomposed and it's not fair and I'm still angry. So if we find her body I will put a blonde wig on it and make a French braid with little flowers if I have to and if she somehow beat all odds and survived I'll tell her that I didn't forget about her dream funeral.”

“So you’ll go?”

“Yes,” Nico says. "I'll go. It'll probably be good closure or whatever and I haven't seen my friends that I'm not related to in years. But if we're staying with our parents, I'm calling Hazel. Persephone hates me and I can't face her without backup."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapter title is one of jenny holzer's many truisms
> 
> edit: i made a few changes with the dates because i'm terrible at math so if you see changes in this chapter it's 100% intentional


	3. homecoming king and queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna, Nico, and Hazel come home.

_September 5, 1998, 1:34 p.m._

“I know this is all overwhelming for you, Reyna,” Maria di Angelo said. She was putting on makeup to go outside and she had asked Reyna to with her. Reyna had been there for two days and Maria had decided to introduce her to some of the local kids “We’re all trying our best to help you settle in.” She finished applying her dark brown lipstick and smiled, and it was impossible for Reyna to tell her that she did not feel settled at all.

It wasn’t that the di Angelo’s weren’t a wonderful family, but they were wonderful _strangers_ and Reyna had been taught from birth not to trust an unfamiliar face with a kind smile. Still, Maria’s smile was the kindest she’d ever seen and it was hard to dislike her. The woman was as gentle as Virgin Mary, all warm brown eyes and glossy black hair and a voice that was so soft and quiet that you had to lean in to hear it. Reyna suspected that she did that for the sole purpose of having people lean closer to her, but that didn’t make it any less endearing.

“I know,” Reyna said. “You’re very nice.”

“Do you like it here?” Maria asked as she patted some white powder on her cheeks. Her face was smooth and handsome. Age had given her soft, weathered features, but she had a nice face. A trustworthy face.

Reyna nodded. “It’s pretty,” she said, which was not a lie. What Agesander lacked in urban culture it made up for in nature. There were trees three times as thick as Reyna was and so tall they looked like they kissed the clouds. Animals ran wild, from cute, fluffy rabbits to silent wolves, but none of them bothered the citizens. The river was clearer and bluer than any water she’d ever seen and even the air was cleaner. It was a complete 180 from the city.

“It is,” Maria agreed, “but I know it must be a little boring for you, considering that you’re from such a big, modern city. Where are you from again?”

“Springfield.”

“I bet there’s a story in there somewhere,” Maria said. “You could tell it to the other kids when you meet them. They’re all so excited that you’re here, Reyna. All of the children here have known each other since birth, and they’d love some new people to play with. Try telling them about Puerto Rico; they love to hear about places that aren’t their little hometown.” By then she had finished her makeup and was picking out a sunhat to wear. She chose a simple woven straw one with a small black bow and put it carefully on her head as not to disturb her curls. Maria beckoned to Reyna and she stood up.

“Now, I have a tea to go to with Mrs. Grace,” Maria said. “I would love to take you, but I don’t think you’d have much fun clucking with us old hens.” She led Reyna outside and they walked together.

“Where are Nico and Hazel and Bianca?”

“Nico and Hazel ran off to play with some of their friends. You’ll meet them soon, but I didn’t want you to feel anxious about meeting so many people at once. Bianca is with her friend, Thalia. You’ll meet her, too, but she’s more Bianca’s age than yours.”

“Then what am I going to do?”

“My Hades is working and I don’t want to leave you home alone, so I asked our neighbor if she could watch you,” Maria said. “She’s not that much older than you and she’s a very sweet girl. In fact, we’re in front of her house right now.” Reyna turned to her right. The house looked almost the same as hers, so it wasn’t very interesting, but this one was made of red bricks instead of dark ones and had vines growing all around it, weaving through each other and dangling off edges.

“You’ll love Annabeth,” Maria said excitedly. “She’s a great girl, one of Nico and Hazel’s friends.” She rang the doorbell and listened to the dull ringing. Reyna heard a voice say that they were coming down. The door opened a few minutes later with a girl about her age standing in the doorway.

“Hi Ms Maria,” the girl, presumably Annabeth, said. She was an inch or two taller than Reyna, but Reyna had more muscle. She had long blonde curls like a princess, but she didn’t look as dainty as one. Her eyes were steely grey and her face was scarred around the jawline.

“Hello Annabeth,” Maria said. “How’s your mother? I haven’t seen her at church lately.”

“She’s fine, Ms. Maria. She hasn’t been feeling well lately, but it’s nothing serious. She’ll get over it in no time. She and my dad just left for some medicine a few hours ago.”

“I’m so glad to hear that,” she said. “Anyways, I know Nico and Hazel must’ve told you that we received a foster child a few days ago.” Reyna hated the way she said received. Received, like a packaged gift or letter. _I might as well be a package,_ Reyna thought. _The social worker said that they might not even adopt me._

Annabeth smiled. “They did! This must be Reyna.” She turned to Reyna and grinned. She still had that awkward mix of baby and adult teeth, but all of them were white and pretty. It was her eyes that unnerved her. The rest of her mouth was smiling but her eyes looked like they were scanning her for flaws and keeping them on record.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Reyna said, grinning just as wide as Annabeth had. Scary eyes or no, Reyna had been through too much to be intimidated by a little Southern white girl. Annabeth just shook her hand in lieu of a response.

“Could you do me a favor and let Reyna stay here for about three hours?” Maria asked. “I know it seems like a long time, but you know how Beryl gets at tea.”

“I totally understand,” Annabeth said. “She can stay here as long as she likes. It’s just me and the babies, anyways. I could use the company.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Maria said. If she had any problems with leaving Reyna alone with another kid without any adult supervision, she didn’t show it. She probably didn’t care; people in small towns had this unwavering trust in their neighbors, Reyna had learned. “Don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone,” she joked. She squeezed Reyna shoulder affectionately, knowing it was too early to give her a kiss or a hug. Reyna was thankful for that.

“Bye girls!” Maria called as she walked away. “Tell Savannah I said hi!”

“I will!” Annabeth called back. When Maria was out of sight, she turned to Reyna. The hospitality was still there, but now there was both curiosity and suspicion under it. She didn’t break eye contact with Reyna for several minutes and was silent the whole time. It made Reyna’s skin crawl, but she swallowed it down. She wasn’t going to let her know that she was intimidated. Months later, Annabeth would tell her that she would sometimes maintain eye contact with strangers she thought were interesting to test their resolve, and that Reyna was the only person who didn’t immediately look away.

 _That's why I liked you from the start,_ she would say when she told her. _Even Nico doesn't look me in the eyes like that, and he's pretty intense._

“You can’t stand out there forever,” she said. “Come in. I’m not going to attack you unprovoked.”

* * *

 

Annabeth’s house was far messier than Reyna thought it would be. It would’ve been a very nice place to live if there wasn’t clutter everywhere. Toys littered the living room, the plates in the sink smelled like they hadn’t been washed in weeks, there were used baby bottles absolutely everywhere, and the babies’ room was a catastrophe. Only Annabeth’s room was clean, and it was so clean it was sterile. The walls were stark white with no decoration and the wood floors were spotless. All she had was a desk and a bunk bed. She slept on the bottom bunk and used to top bunk to store her clothes and the occasional accessory. It was almost to clean to be comfortable, but Reyna sat there with Annabeth anyways. From the one window, Reyna could see her own house.

“I don’t like excess things,” Annabeth explained when she saw Reyna’ reaction to her room. “When there’s not a lot of stuff around me, there’s not a lot of stuff to distract me. I like to keep a clear head. I would empty my room completely if I could.” All of this sounded very weird coming from a nine year old, but Reyna liked it.

“Where are you from, Reyna?” she asked as they sucked on some cherry lollipops Annabeth hid in her mattress (the only benefit of having furniture in her room, she said). “Did you live in the state before you came here?”

Reyna shook her head. “I lived in Springfield. That’s in Illinois.”

“I know where Springfield is.”

“Before that I lived in San Juan, but my family moved when I was little. San Juan as in Puerto Rico.”

“I know where San Juan is, too. But it’s cool that you got to travel. I’ve only been to two places my whole life and both of them were in the US.”

“Puerto Rico is technically a part of the US.”

“Don’t be a smartass,” Annabeth said, but she was smiling as she said it, with her eyes and her mouth, so Reyna knew she was joking with her. “But really, I’d love to go to another country.”

“I hardly remember Puerto Rico,” Reyna admitted. “My family told me stories about it all the time, though. It’s really pretty, the way they would tell it.” She thought of her sister’s story of the guava tree and her father’s sad laugh when he talked about his childhood brother, who died before Reyna and Hylla were born. It made her sad to think about the family she’d lost when she was still trying to get used to her new family, but she hid it well. She liked Annabeth, but she didn’t know her well enough to tell her about her past.

“I’d like to go back there someday,” Reyna said. “I’d go and look for everything my family told me about in their stories.”

“That sounds nice,” Annabeth mused. “My parents tell me stories about their childhood, but they grew up here in Agesander, so it’s not as exciting. Well, Frederick did and Athena did, but Savannah grew up in New York City. That’s the other place that I’ve been to, New York City. So I’ve already seen everything she talks about in her stories.”

“Who’s Athena?” Reyna asked. She assumed Frederick was her father and Maria mentioned Savannah at the door, but she’d never heard of an Athena.

“Athena’s my mom. Savannah is my step-mom. The babies are her and Frederick’s kids. Athena’s dead. She’s been dead for a very long time.”

All Reyna could say was “Oh.” The conversation had a slight lapse after that, but Reyna was the only one who felt awkward. Annabeth seemed perfectly comfortable and was content with sucking her lollipop in silence. Later Reyna would find out from Maria that Athena was not actually dead, but dead to Annabeth and her father in a metaphorical sense, and that Annabeth told people she was dead in a literal sense to make it clear that she didn’t want to hear or speak of her.

Before the silence could become long enough that it would be impossible to recover from, Reyna heard the unmistakable sound of a baby wailing. Annabeth heard it too and groaned so loudly that she drowned out the sounds of the babies for a second. She stood up and looked at Reyna expectantly when she didn’t immediately follow her lead. Reyna was a little offended that she expected her to mirror her every move, but they had just met and she didn’t want to have a bad relationship with the girl who was best friends with two of her new siblings, so she let it slide and followed her to the babies’ room. Besides, Annabeth didn’t seem like she was trying to be snotty, she was just a little annoyed with the crying.

“I hope you’re good with babies,” Annabeth said. “Matt and Bobby are hell to take care of when they start crying. They’re pretty cute once they stop, at least.” The babies’ room was just a few doors down from Annabeth’s, so it didn’t take long for them to walk in to comfort the kids. They were obviously twins, but they looked almost nothing like their sister. Both boys had thin black hair and brown eyes that curved slightly upwards at the ends. The only thing that they had in common with Annabeth was tan skin.

“You take Bobby and I’ll take Matt,” Reyna said. They both wore onesies with their names on them (Matt’s being Matthew and Bobby’s being Robert), which made it easy to tell them apart. Reyna was glad that there was at least some organization, or else she would’ve easily gotten the babies mixed up.

“Ok,” Annabeth said, “but Matt cries louder than Bobby.” She scooped up her brother and started cradling him back and forth, humming a lullaby that Reyna couldn’t name.

Reyna didn’t have a lot of experience with little children, but Annabeth looked like she did, so she went by example. She took Matt—who was a much louder crier as Annabeth had said—in her arms, started to rock him gently and was pleased to see that he was calming down. She sang him songs that Hylla used to sing to her and held him close to her chest so he would feel safe. In a matter of minutes, he stopped crying. He was still awake, but he was gurgling instead of screaming. Bobby had yet to calm down, and Annabeth was visibly getting more and more frustrated.

“We can switch,” Reyna offered when she noticed that Annabeth was holding her brother a little too tightly than she was supposed to. “You can take Matt downstairs and I can try to get Bobby to stop crying.”

“I’m fine,” Annabeth said, but she didn’t sound convincing. Bobby was starting to get louder and it made Matt tear up. Annabeth was holding him to tightly and rocking to quickly, that much Reyna could tell. But she didn’t want her help.

“I’m taking Matt downstairs. If he keeps listening to Bobby he’ll start crying again.” Annabeth nodded, but didn’t look at her, so Reyna took that as her cue to leave. She took Matt downstairs and sat on the couch with him, knocking some of the debris off the cushions so that she could get a comfortable spot. Matt was comfortable in her arms and seemed perfectly content resting with her. She could still hear Bobby’s crying, but it was faint enough to ignore.

After ten minutes, Reyna heard someone coming down the stairs and saw Annabeth when she turned around to look. Bobby wasn’t with her and she could still hear him crying.

“What’s wrong?” Reyna asked. Annabeth looked more hand a little uncomfortable and she frowned.

“I need your help,” she huffed. “Bobby won’t stop crying no matter what I do. Usually Savannah is here to calm them down, but she’s off on some vacation with Frederick.”

“I thought you said she was sick.”

“She’s sick of church, but she’s perfectly healthy,” Annabeth said. “But seriously, you got Matt to calm down in a few seconds.” Annabeth didn’t look like the type of person who liked to admit that they needed help with anything, so Reyna told her to bring Bobby down so she could get him to stop crying. When she did, they switched babies and Reyna rocked Bobby gently until his crying stopped, which only took a few minutes. Annabeth blushed with embarrassment and Matt started to flail around in her grip.

“I’m not good with babies,” Annabeth said. “They never shut up and you can never tell why they’re crying.”

“That’s not a big deal.”

“But they’re my brothers. You’re a stranger and you’re better with them than me.”

“They don’t like me better, they just like the way I held them,” Reyna said, still rocking Bobby. “I’ll show you. Just watch me.”

Annabeth looked skeptical, raising one eyebrow like a TV character. “I hold them just the same as you do.”

“No you don’t. You hold them too tightly. You need to loosen your grip, like this,” she said, gesturing at Bobby with her chin. “They’re not going to fall if you support them properly, so you don’t need to squeeze them.”

“How do you know so much about babies?”

“I don’t. This just seems like common sense to me.” Annabeth looked offended by the implication for half a second, and Reyna thought she might kick her out of the house, but she laughed.

“Don’t be rude,” she said, still giggling. She picked up the other baby and awkwardly tried to hold him like Reyna was holding Bobby. Matt started squirming violently, and Annabeth nearly lost her hold on him.

“He’s jumping out of my arms!” she complained. Reyna laughed inwardly. Annabeth was far more awkward than she was, at least in this area. It was a little endearing and mostly funny.

“You’re holding him in all the wrong places,” Reyna said. “Look where my arms are.”

Two hours later, both babies were asleep. Annabeth had rocked Matt until he drifted off, looking down at him with a fondness she never used with her brothers as she did. Bobby had been in Reyna’s arms playing with her hair and fell asleep when he grew tired of it. The house was a little cleaner, too. Once the babies had fallen asleep, Reyna pointed out that the rest of her house wasn’t nearly as pristine as her room, and they started cleaning it since they couldn’t think of anything better to do. It turned out to be fun; they joked and told stories while they worked. Reyna told stories about her sister and Springfield while Annabeth talked about the adventures she’d had with her friends, including Nico and Hazel, which surprised Reyna but also satisfied her curiosity. She wanted to know what they would be like the moment she’d heard that she was moving in with them, and Annabeth’s stories made them seem like fun kids. All in all, it wasn’t a bad way to spend the time. They were both so tired afterwards that they plopped down on the huge couch in the living room.

“Savannah’s going to be so happy she’ll have a heart attack,” Annabeth said when they were lying down next to each other. They were looking up at the ceiling with the lights turned off since Annabeth had glued glow in the dark stars up there years ago. “She loves it when the house is clean, but she hates cleaning. My dad doesn’t care either way, so it’s usually a mess unless I do something about it.”

“Why don’t you?”

Annabeth shrugged. “Mostly because Savannah tells me to, I think,” she said. “Whenever she tells me to do something, I do the opposite.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like her. I can tell you that because it’s not a secret. Everybody in town knows that I don’t like her, including her, but nobody says anything about it. They just assume it’s because I miss my mom. Athena.”

“Do you?”

“Miss my mom? Sometimes. Frederick doesn’t miss her at all. Savannah makes him really happy.”

“That’s good.”

“It’s ok,” Annabeth sighed. “It’s just ok.” She turned to Reyna and smiled. Reyna couldn’t see it well because of the dark, but she could hear it, the wet sound of lips parting and widening. Mostly she could see it in Annabeth’s eyes. The little light that came from the plastic stars was just enough to reflect off her grey eyes. They looked a light peridot, and they looked happy.

“I like you,” she said. “You’re fun.” If the lights were on, Annabeth would’ve seen the dark blush on her cheeks, so Reyna was glad that they weren’t. She’d never been described a fun person, so this was as surprising as it was flattering.

“Thanks,” Reyna said. “You’re fun, too.”

“I've heard,” Annabeth laughed and Reyna couldn’t help but laugh along with her. “We’re going to have so fun this summer. You’ll love it here, trust me. My friends are going to love you and the di Angelo kids are great.”

“They seem like it,” Reyna said, “but it’s just hard to get a brand new family like that. I didn’t even know their names when I was sent over to live with them. And they might not even adopt me.”

“They’ll adopt you,” Annabeth said with so much certainty that Reyna believed her. “I just know it. I feel it. You’ll be a native in no time.” She felt around for Reyna’s shoulder and squeezed it when she found it, just like Maria did at the door. It was nicer when Annabeth did it. Maria was hoping to be her mother, even if only for a while, so of course she was going to show her affection. Annabeth was just a kid. She didn’t have to like or accept her, but she did. It made Reyna feel safer.

“You really didn’t even know their names?” Annabeth asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence. Reyna nodded. “Wow.”

“Yeah. I am glad that I got such a nice family, but I wish I could’ve known them a little before we became an actual family.”

“Sometimes I wish you could pick your family. You could choose people who you already trusted and you wouldn’t have to worry about getting family members you didn’t like,” Annabeth said. “I’d pick someone my age. Bobby and Matt are too little to really play with. Athena had another kid, but he’s way older than me, plus he’s a boy. And I want a sister. One I can play with.”

“Me too,” Reyna said. “I never wanted a brother, so I’m glad I just had a sister. But she’s a lot older than me. She was taking care of me instead of playing with me. Not even my cousins were my age.”

“Too bad we aren’t sisters,” Annabeth said.

“We should be sisters,” Reyna joked. “Then we could play together.” Annabeth looked at her and laughed. She grinned and held Reyna’s hand.

“Let’s be sisters, then,” she laughed. She squeezed Reyna’s hand. “I just have to tell Mrs. di Angelo that I’m stealing her new daughter for myself.” She was only joking, but it was Annabeth’s special way of saying that she wanted to become Reyna’s friend, and Reyna had never really had any friends before. So she squeezed Annabeth’s hand in response and decided to see how things went from there.

* * *

 

_July 22, 2015, 12:43, p.m._

“I missed this place,” Hazel says as they drive down their old street. “New Orleans just wasn’t as nice.”

She’s only saying that because she grew up in Agesander, Reyna knows. Their hometown wasn’t very flashy when they were kids and the place still looked like it was stuck in the 18th century compared to the bustling Chicago. It was still pretty, but not as exciting as a big city. Reyna thought this day was especially boring when she drove into town. Nobody was outside, like they all decided to stay in. The animals that used to run along the sidewalks were gone. Even the sky was bored; it stayed a dark grey and there were more clouds than sky. Hazel was driving with her and she said that the clouds were having a family reunion, so they had to huddle together to talk. When Reyna asked her why they didn’t leave room for the sky, she said that the sky let itself out so that it wouldn’t rudely interrupt any of their conversations. Even at 23, Hazel has the energy of a young girl. Reyna can’t relate, but she admires it.

Their brother, on the other hand, had the energy of a corpse. He called earlier to tell them that he would be on time, but it had been two hours and he still hadn’t arrived. “We should wait for him,” Hazel had said in the car. Reyna waved her off.

“I wish Nico was here with us,” Hazel says. “It’d be nice for us to all go in together. I don’t think he’s been here in years. I bet he won’t even remember where our house is.”

“I don’t think it will be hard to miss,” Reyna says. “It’s the darkest house in town.” It’s true; the bricks that made up their house had a weird reaction with the weather and went from the standard auburn to a red so dark it was almost black. This only happened to their house, for whatever reason, and it had been dubbed “Hell’s Halfway House” by the kids. Reyna always liked it.

“True, but all the houses on our side of town look the same. If he gets lost, you have to go look for him.”

“I won’t. He won’t get lost.”

“Yes he will,” Hazel insists. “And you want to know how I know?”

“How?”

“Because you just passed our house a few minutes ago. I just saw Mom standing outside our door. Turn around.” Reyna does so without comment.

“Hazel!” Persephone squeals upon their arrival. She thrusts out her arms to hug her and Hazel comes running. They embrace as if they haven’t seen each other in decades, even though Hazel visits Agesander all the time. Persephone hasn’t noticed Reyna yet, or she’s too preoccupied with Hazel to greet her, but Reyna isn’t offended. She and Hazel always had a better mother-daughter bond. They looked like complete opposites—Hazel being dark skinned with wiry blonde hair and gold eyes and Persephone being pale with dark hair and darker eyes—but they were related in spirit. Persephone would never admit it, but Hazel had always been her favorite.

“Oh my stars and garters, _Reyna_?” Persephone says with surprise, “I didn’t know you were coming. I would’ve organized a party had I known the whole family was getting back together!”

 _That’s exactly why I didn’t call ahead._ “Sorry for springing up on you,” Reyna says after Persephone pulls her into a hug. She hasn’t aged a day since she got married, so her skin is warm and smooth where she touches her. “I wanted to surprise you and Hades. Nico’s supposed to be here, but he got held up.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Persephone says. “It really is a family reunion. If Bianca would just fly over from Italy, we’d have the whole di Angelo clan back together.” She claps her hands together and grins like she’s already planning a reunion dinner in her head. “Oh what are we standing out here for? We can get your bags later, your father will be so happy to see his baby girls again.”

When Persephone leads them inside, Reyna feels like she stepped into a time machine and traveled back to her teens. Her family was never big on decor, save Persephone, so the interior was almost the same as it had been when she was a child. The only difference was that everything had an aged look when Reyna focused on it for too long. The long, red velvet couch that she used to jump on with Piper had some holes worn in the cushions and frayed edges near the seams. The painting of the first di Angelo to live in Agesander still hung proudly over the fireplace in the living room, but Reyna could notice the fading colors for the first time. Even the floor creaked in protest when she walked on it.

“Hades,” Persephone says, “guess who’s here!” She pulls Reyna and Hazel to the foot of the long, winding staircase that lead to the bedrooms upstairs. The steps have been polished recently, and they glisten when the light streaming from the open windows hits them.

“Who did you bring over this time?” Hades groans from his room upstairs. His voice is just as smooth and sleep-inducing as Reyna remembered it to be, a complete inversion of Persephone’s high-pitched Southern drawl.

“I’m not telling you,” Persephone sing-songs. “You have to come down and see for yourself or you’ll never find out.”

Reyna hears a loud, exaggerated sigh before the thud of footsteps. Hades always had a flair for drama when it came to banter with his wife. He walks out to the railing of the stairs and peers down at them. Unlike his wife, Hades has definitely aged since the last time Reyna saw him. His thick black hair is sparse around the top and grayed at the temples. There aren’t a lot of wrinkles on his pale face, but the ones that are there are deep.Still, he looks more distinguished than elderly, like he’s had several lifetimes of experience.

“I didn’t know we were having a family gathering,” he says when he sees them, which is Hades’ way of saying _I’m very surprised but also glad to see you._ Emotions aren’t his strong suit, but Reyna can detect the joy in his voice and knows that he’s happy to see his daughters.

“Hi Daddy,” Hazel says cheerfully when he’s at the foot of the stairs. She pulls him into a fierce hug, which is almost comical considering that Hazel is a little over half his size. He’s stiff, but he eventually gives in and hugs her back.

“Your hair is different,” he says.

“My hair’s been different for two months now,” Hazel laughs. “I dyed it blonde. Thanks for noticing.”

“Hey Dad,” Reyna says with a small wave. She was going to leave it at that, but Hazel grabs her wrist and pulls her into the hug before she has the chance to move away. Even at her height, Hades towers over her. He smells like the expensive cologne he used to buy by the crate, and it reminds Reyna of the time she used his cologne to make the fake flowers they had on the porch smell better. She wasted an entire bottle and he didn’t even seem upset. The memory makes Reyna laugh and she wraps her arms around her sister and father.

“You’ve gotten taller,” Hades says to Reyna when they pull apart. It’s his way of telling her that she looks so much older than he realized she did.

“I’ve heard.” It’s her way of saying thanks.

“Nico’s on his way,” Hazel says. “He’ll probably get lost, but he shouldn’t be any later than sundown.”

“What brings you all here?” Hades asks. “I don’t think you’ve all been here at the same time since Hazel’s high school graduation party.”

“Has something happened?” Persephone asks. “Do you need any help? If you do, we’re always here if you need us.”

“We’re fine,” Reyna says. She still feels weird about discussing the journal with people who weren’t a part of their inner circle. Her parents, along with all the other adults in Agesander, saw Annabeth as a sweet, harmless girl who would never do anything wrong. They knew that she had a temper and could be reckless sometimes, but they had no idea who she was around her friends. If she told them about her discovery, she’d have to explain why it made her so unsettled that she decided to come home and investigate.

“Actually, Reyna found some of Annabeth’s old things in her apartment,” Hazel says. Reyna almost intervenes, but Hazel already has it covered. “It’s just some old clothes and toys, so we wanted to give some of it to her other friends. She wouldn’t have wanted her stuff to go in the trash.” She never mentions anything suspicious and she’s not lying entirely—Reyna brought the box with her and was planning on giving some stuff away to their friends. Hazel had always been better at hiding the full truth.

“Oh that’s so good of you two,” Persephone says with a lowered voice. The spark in her eyes dims at the mention of Annabeth and even Hades looks down at his feet in despondence. They don’t want to make a big deal of it, but they were hurt by Annabeth’s disappearance, too. Hades had known her all her life and Persephone watched her grow up with her children. “I hope we can all get some closure. It’s been a very long time.” She sounds distant when she speaks, but she quickly shakes it off with a smile.

“Well,” Persephone says, spark returning, “we should all sit down and have some tea for a moment. I haven’t sat down with my children in ages and I missed them so dearly. I even made lemon poppyseed scones from scratch this morning! Aren’t those your favorite, Reyna? It’s like I sensed you were coming.”

* * *

 

An hour and four scones later—Persephone was right, they were Reyna’s favorite and damn, did she miss them—Nico calls. Reyna is sitting outside on the porch swing with Hazel while using her fingers to spread raspberry curd and clotted cream on her fifth scone. They’ve been swinging on the old porch swing like old times, even though it’s not as strong or bright as it was when they made it. The loud, tinkling sound of her ringtone hits her ears just when she swallows her first bite. The sweet spread stains her fingers a light berry color and makes them sticky to touch.

“Hazel can you answer my phone?” Reyna asks her sister, who’s on her third scone. Hazel takes her scones plain, so her hands are dry and clean. Hazel grimaces at the sight of Reyna’s gooey hands, but she plucks the phone out of Reyna’s pocket and puts it on speaker before handing a moist towelette from her pocket to her sister.

“Hello, this isn’t Reyna speaking,” Hazel says.

“That’s weird. I’ve already called two wrong numbers and the third time is supposed to be lucky.”

“What’s up, Nico?” Reyna interrupts. “Are you lost? Hazel said you would get lost.”

“Hazel’s usually right,” Nico says, “and this time isn’t any different.” There’s a muffled voice in the background that Reyna can’t quite make out, and Nico laughs at whatever the mystery person said to him.

“Who’s with you?” Hazel asks. “And if you’re lost, do you need up be picked up? Because I already told Reyna that she would have to be your chauffeur this time.” That earned Hazel a gentle elbow to the side from Reyna, but it just made her laugh.

“I was lost,” Nico says, “but while I was driving, I saw some guy on the side of the road who said he’d show me the way in exchange for sexual favors, so now I’m on the way but I’ll need to stop and pick up some condoms.”

“Ignore Nico’s sick sense of humor,” the background voice shouts into the phone. “I kindly offered to show him the way to Hell’s Halfway House because I’m the kind of nice guy who does favors for his old friends.” Now that they can hear it clearly, they recognize the voice instantly.

“Holy shit, is that who I think it is?” Reyna says into the phone.

“Hi Reyna,” Percy Jackson says. “Long time no see. You still got that crush on me?”

“You still got that bruise on your back from when you thought I had a crush on you and I fought you?” Reyna teases. She can’t see him, but she knows that he’s dramatically clutching his chest in faux pain. She still sees the dark skinny kid with unruly black hair and wild, perpetually mischievous sea-green eyes when she pictures him.

“I’m still wounded,” he says with exaggerated anguish. “Not a day goes by when I don’t think about how you ruthlessly attacked my person.”

“You provoked me.”

“ _Me?_ Provoke someone? Nico are you hearing this slander? Aren’t you going to defend me from your evil sister?”

“You two should have a rematch when we pull up,” Nico says. “Percy’s got more muscle now, but I think Reyna’d still win if she put in the effort.” Percy protests in the background but Nico cuts him off. “Actually we’re right in front of the house now, so if you want to knock each other’s teeth in, this is the perfect opportunity.”

The loud sound of a car horn blares in the distance, and Reyna immediately knows who it is. “I’ll meet you there,” she says. Hazel hangs up the phone and they jump off the porch like teenagers to run to the front of the house.

Nico’s black Mustang is just pulling up when Nico hops out of the car. It’s still moving when he opens the door, but he isn’t fazed. Percy’s driving, so he just shouts a hello from the driver’s seat, but Nico runs up to them with his arms wide open.

“Home, sweet home,” he says as he stands in front of the door. “Sisters, sweet sisters,” he says when Hazel and Reyna come running up to him. He tackles Hazel in a giant bear hug, lifting her up and spinning her around until she breathlessly demands that he put her down. He jumps on Reyna once Hazel’s on the ground again, and he swings himself onto her back like a child until Reyna purposefully falls over. They both land flat on their faces, but neither care about the dirt. That’s the thing about Nico: when he’s moody, he gets so upset that it’s like he never knew happiness, but when he’s happy he just comes alive.

“All I got was a pat on the back when you picked me up,” Percy says from the car once he’s parked. He steps out to walk over to them and Reyna notices how tall he’s gotten. He used to have to look up at her when they were kids, even in senior year. He’s not that much shorter than Hades now. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you liked them more.”

“I do,” Nico says when he stands, brushing dirt off his dark wash jeans and slinging an arm around each girl. “My sisters aren’t half as annoying as you are and I haven't seen them in months.”

“That’s so rude,” Percy complains. “At least Hazel and Reyna like me, right?” Hazel laughs and breaks away from Nico to give Percy a hug. She’s so tiny that she looks like a child compared to him, but she manages to lift him up a few inches off the ground when he grabs him. Percy’s swearing only makes it funnier to her.

“God, Hazel, you must have the strength of a bull or something,” Percy says when she puts him down. “Not even Frank can lift me up.”

“Liar. You’re as thin as my leg,” Hazel says, poking him in the chest. “And I’ve been practicing.” She turns to her siblings to explain. “A few months ago, he said that I wasn’t strong enough to lift him up, and I bet him fifty dollars that I’d be able to by the end of the year.”

“I didn’t think you would actually do it, so I don’t have your money,” Percy admits. “But now you have the satisfaction of knowing that you proved Perseus A. Jackson wrong once again.”

“She’s always proving you wrong.” Reyna interjects. “I can’t think of a single person in town who hasn’t proved you wrong at least twice.”

“I’m being so attacked right now,” Percy says. “Is this any way to greet the guy you used to be head over heels in love with?”

“I was never in love with you, Jackson,” Reyna says, “but I did miss you.” She hugs him, not with the same intensity as Hazel, but enough for her to feel his chest pressing into hers. Hazel was wrong, Percy isn’t as skinny as a twig anymore. He’s stronger now, but he still acts like the troublemaker she grew up with. She looks up at him. He still has the same wild green eyes, but his black hair is neatly brushed and his features look almost chiseled. His skin’s gotten even darker, almost as dark as her own.

“I’m so glad that I’m taller than you now,” Percy says. “You’re a lot less scary when I don’t have to look up at you.”

* * *

 

“So what’s new with you?” Reyna asks Percy once they’re on the porch. Reyna, Percy, and Nico sit on the porch swing and Hazel sits between Reyna’s legs with a box of beer cans in her arms. There’s enough room for four people to sit side by side, but Hazel claims to like sitting on someone more. Reyna doesn’t mind, there’s more room on the swing now anyways.

“Define new,” Percy says as he cracks open a can with his thumb. “The only thing that’s happened to me that’s worth hearing about happened a few years ago.”

“He’s referring to the baby,” Hazel says.

“What baby?”

“Mine and Piper’s. We have a four year old now,” Percy says between swigs. Reyna knew about Piper’s baby since Piper sent her hundreds of emails about it and even a few pictures, but she didn’t know who the father was until now. She tries to picture a combination of Percy’s loud, obvious mischief and Piper’s subtle mischief in one (probably beautiful) package, and decides that she would never want to babysit.

“ _You’re_ Piper’s mystery one night stand?” Reyna asks. Percy nods cheerfully. “I can honestly say that I didn’t see that coming.”

“I did,” Hazel chimes. “And you should really meet the baby, Reyna. She’s four now and she’s so adorable. You too, Nico. You guys would love her.”

“It’s true,” Percy adds. “Leela’s great, way better than me and Piper when we were kids. She’s probably more mature than the both us.”

“I can’t believe you have a kid,” Nico says. “We’re so old now. Next thing you know, you and Piper are going to get married and Jason and I will be fighting over who gets to be the best man.”

“Piper and I would never get married. We’re just very close friends that happened to get drunk and create life.”

“If anyone’s getting married, it’s Jason,” Hazel says. A gust of wind blows through the porch, making the swing move and Hazel giggle as she talks. “He’s been so in love for the past few months. He won’t tell me who, but I think it’s really serious.”

“I deserve to be the best man at Jason’s wedding, at least,” Nico says, clutching onto the chains of the swing so that the wind doesn’t push him off. “I will fight you for that, Percy.” Percy laughs, but doesn’t respond.

“Listen to us, we really are old,” Reyna sighs. “It’s so weird. I remember when Hades built this porch swing for us like it was a few days ago.”

“I remember it, too, but only because Bianca accidentally slammed a hammer on her thumb and didn’t even cry,” Hazel says. “I hope she’ll come back from Italy soon. I miss having her around.”

“Speaking of coming back, why are you guys back all of the sudden? Hazel I expect,” Percy says, pointing to Reyna and Nico, “but you two hardly ever visit. Who died?”

“Nobody died,” Reyna says. She reaches around Hazel to dig a can of beer out of the box. Reyna isn’t a fan of beer, but she likes the faint dizzy feeling she gets when she drinks it too fast and she doesn’t feel like bringing up Annabeth to Percy without some alcohol in her. She and Percy had been inseparable until Reyna came, Nico told her once. Even after she arrived, they had been so close that everybody who didn’t know better assumed that they would date one day. Percy didn’t leave the house for weeks when she went missing, and he cried for hours during the memorial held for her at school months later.

“Is someone sick?”

Reyna shakes her head, nearly gagging at the bitter taste of the beer but enjoying the sudden light-headedness. “No. I found some of Annabeth’s things in my apartment. I thought we could give some of it away to her friends.” She feels Percy tense up next to her, but his face remains impassive.

“Reyna thinks there’s a conspiracy,” Nico adds. “She says that she found a creepy journal that has to do with Annabeth going missing.”

Percy doesn’t freak out like Reyna thought he might, but he does look more than a little agitated when Nico’s done speaking. “What kind of conspiracy?” he asks nervously. Reyna thinks that she feels him shudder against her, but she might’ve imagined it. Hazel gently pats his arm to help soothe him, but it doesn’t help as much it would’ve in any other situation.

“It’s not a conspiracy,” Reyna says. “I just found a fake journal of her’s and I wanted to investigate a little bit.”

“A fake journal?”

“The entries are a bunch of made up stories. She completely erased all the things we did together, and the entry that she wrote on the day she disappeared says that she was with us when she wasn’t.”

“Don’t forget the code,” Nico adds, opening his own can and chugging down half its content in one go. “Remember that code we made up with Annabeth years ago?”

“Not really,” Percy admits.

“Am I seriously the only person who remembered? Never mind, the point is that she wrote a bunch of pages in a code that only us three knew about and Reyna wanted to decode it to make sure there’s nothing suspicious going on.”

“You make me sound so hysterical,” Reyna complains. “It’s mostly about closure, anyways. And besides, you’re right, we hardly ever visit. I missed you and Piper and everyone else. I feel like I’ve missed out on all my friends’ lives; I wasn’t even there when Leela was born. Two of my best friends have a kid and I haven’t even seen her in person yet. One of you could’ve died and I wouldn’t even know it.”

“Not true,” Percy says. “If one of us was dying you’d probably sense it and come running back to say goodbye before they kicked the bucket.” He gives her a brotherly kiss on the cheek and grins at her, green eyes glimmering. “But I’m glad you’re back. You too, Nico.” He leans over Hazel and Reyna to kiss Nico, but he squirms away and bats at his face.

“I am not glad I’m back,” Nico complains when Percy gets up to grab him. “I— _hey_! Get _off_ me! I hate this! Somebody take me back to California!”

* * *

 

Reyna old room is like her new one in Chicago in the sense that it’s simply decorated, but the similarities end there. This room used to be the attic, so it’s wide and spacious with water-stained hardwood floors and the sky blue paint on the walls peels where it meets the ceiling. She chose to have her computer desk put downstairs so she’d have more room to play, so her old toy and trinkets rest on a large antique chest of drawers. Her bed is pressed up against the wall where the one window is and Reyna has fond memories of waking up at dawn with the rising sun. Reyna liked using natural light, so the only other light sources in the room are the strings of fairy lights taped up to the ceiling that she would use when she wanted to stay up later. The window takes up half the wall and she has a perfect view of her neighbor’s house. She can see right into Annabeth’s old room from her bed.

“I tried to keep it clean for you,” Hazel says from the doorframe. Reyna didn’t realize she was standing there, but she isn’t startled. She beckons Hazel over with her right hand and she comes over and sits on the bed next to her. The sheets are as soft as she remembers, but the bright white faded a long time ago.

“I should put fairy lights in my room back in Chicago,” Reyna muses. “They make the whole room look nicer.”

“I know. It was my idea to put them up, remember?” Hazel says. “I felt so bad that you had to sleep in the attic and I offered to trade rooms, but you refused. So I said we should put up some pretty lights so that the attic wouldn’t seem so scary.”

“I was never scared of the attic. I liked the view from up here.” Reyna gestures to the wide window with her chin. Even though it’s gradually getting darker out, she can see the vines that grew over Annabeth’s window and the boxes that rest where her bed used to be.

“You only liked the view _after_ you met Annabeth and realized that you could talk for hours without leaving the comfort of your home, but whatever. Anyways, Mom wants us to try and go to bed early tonight. She told me that she’s planning a surprise for you and Nico, which means that she’s going to throw a party to celebrate your homecoming. I hope you packed some nice clothes.”

“There are nice clothes and there are Persephone-approved nice clothes. Do have anything in my size?”

“No, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it.” Hazel says. “But I just wanted to warn you before morning.” She almost stands up to leave, but she pauses in front of Reyna and looks down at her with an expression that’s as close to motherly as Reyna’s ever seen on Hazel’s face.

“I am glad that you decided to come back,” Hazel says. “Honest. I don’t think you ever really let Annabeth go. You’re not as up front about it, but you’re still half in love with her like when we were little.” Hazel reaches for Reyna’s hand and holds it tightly, like she’s afraid Reyna will pull away from her.

“That’s not a bad thing,” she continues, “but I don’t want you to leave even sadder than you were when you came. Don’t expect too much, ok?”

“I don’t follow.”

“I know you hope she’s still alive—Reyna, don’t you dare cut me off because I’m right and you know it—and while I admire your hope, I don’t want to see you get disappointed.”

“So you’re saying that I should just pray that I find her dead body, is that it?” Reyna says with near palpable hurt in her tone. Hazel was right; as rational as Reyna usually was, she couldn’t quite grasp the idea of Annabeth being dead. It was like a mathematical formula: Annabeth Chase=relaxing in summer+yelling at a window at 4 in the morning to talk to your friend+all the things that made her childhood. Death didn’t fit into the equation. Reyna only thought of her as dead in her nightmares.

“Of course not,” Hazel says sweetly. “I want you to be hopeful. Hope is good. Great, even. If you weren’t so hopeful, I don’t think you would’ve been as strong as you were when she disappeared. So no, I think you should hope for the best. But prepare for the worst, Rey. Hope for the best, but always prepare yourself for the worst.”

And with that, Hazel leaves the room and leaves Reyna alone with her hopes and and her worsts.

**  
  
  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i haven't written for a while and part of the reason why i'm writing this is so i can get better so if u have any opinions please leave a comment so i can know what i'm doing right or wrong!


	4. the mystery gang (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna and Nico see an old friend again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta'd so please point out any mistakes
> 
> EDIT: *blows dust off this fic* i'm back
> 
> i added stuff to the end of this chapter and the next one should be coming soon

_September 23, 2006, 4:37 p.m._

It wasn’t a rainy day or a sunny day when they held the memorial. In books and movies, it was always either a really bad day or a really pretty one, but this day was just drab. The clouds covered the sun enough that it wasn’t hot but it wasn’t cold either and the wind wasn’t even strong enough to move a leaf. Annabeth used to call it nothing weather. She said it was her favorite kind of weather because there was nothing extreme about it. You could do anything you would do on a sunny day or a cold day and wear whatever you wanted. Reyna hoped that she could enjoy it somehow, if she was still in town.

 _Even nature is trying to make me sad today,_ Reyna thought bitterly. It seemed like every force in the world was trying to make Reyna feel even worse about Annabeth disappearing. When she woke up that morning and looked out her window, the first thing she saw was Annabeth’s empty room. For breakfast, Hades made pancakes, which had been one of Annabeth’s favorite foods. The first shirt she saw in her closet was a grey sweater, the same color as Annabeth’s eyes. The black dress she picked out for the memorial reminded her of the one Annabeth wore to her grandmother’s funeral when they were ten. Reyna didn’t need a memorial service to remember Annabeth, she was everywhere. She never realized how many things she associated with each of her friends until one of them was gone and everything in sight made her chest ache.

It had been three weeks since Annabeth was declared missing. Her parents said that they wanted to wait and make sure that she was really missing since Annabeth liked to scare them sometimes. Reyna sometimes wondered if they really cared about her or if they just held a service so that they wouldn’t look bad. Annabeth was always complaining about her family, she couldn’t have been making it up from nowhere. And it didn’t seem to Reyna that they really cared; the police were barely looking for her. Their law enforcement was flawed at best and inoperative at worst, but surely a missing child should’ve sparked something in them. They were just sitting on their asses and doing nothing while a little girl was in danger. The citizens were doing more to help, and all they were doing was putting up posters. Reyna and her friends were the only ones really trying, in her opinion. They spent hours searching for her in their secret hangouts and it places where the everyone else was too scared to go, like the bottom of Castellan’s Jump. They never found anything. Once Reyna went out on her own and starting digging with her bare hands, not knowing what she was looking for and knowing that there probably would be nothing to find, but hoping for anything. She buried her hands so deeply into the dirt that her forearms were spotted brown and she could feel earthworms slithering between her fingers as ants nipped at her wrists. All she had to show for it were dirt-caked nails and the feeling that she was slowly becoming manic.

The service was nice enough. It was a simple gathering at Annabeth’s house where the guests would contribute to a pile of things to honor her by. There was no formal speech or even an organized plan, but people knew what to do nonetheless. Everyone old enough to walk showed up, and those not enough to walk were carried there. The pile had everything from candles to stuffed animals to letters. A large framed photograph of Annabeth sat in the middle of it all. She couldn’t have been more than six in the picture, all baby fat and big eyes. Most of the recent pictures of her were taken by her friends, so her parents had to make do with what they had. Hazel added a bunch of pictures she took of her a few weeks before he vanished as her contribution. Reyna thought that she looked much happier in the recent pictures; in the big picture her parents brought, she’s unsmiling and grim..

“This feels so real now,” Hazel said. She sounded more solemn than sad, but Reyna suspected that she was faking it to stay as supportive as possible. Reyna heard her crying in the bathroom that morning. It was violent crying, and Reyna heard her throw up once while she was doing it. There weren’t any traces of her meltdown once she stepped out, though. She was perfectly poised and in control,wiry curls were flattened down and tamed and not a trace of tears on her dark skin.

“It does,” Piper agreed from Reyna’s right. Her friends all met up at the di Angelo house before the memorial since it was right next door. They went to the service as a group and stood by the altar together. The was strength in numbers, better to go together so they were unified in their grief instead of going one at a time with no shoulder to cry on. Piper got to her house first. She ran over, despite living on the other side of town. When Persephone opened the door to let her in, she practically fell into her arms and sobbed.

“I don’t like it,” Piper continued. “I don’t want any of this to be real.” Tears clumped her long eyelashes together and stained her brown face, but she was still stunning. If anything she had a haunted look about her that just made her even more beautiful, like a photograph in an art piece. “This is a nightmare. All of this is a fucking nightmare.” She wiped more tears from her strange eyes, brown near the pupils and blue around the edges in the right eye and completely green in the left one.

“It could be worse,” Frank said from behind them, out of her sight. His voice was as soft as he was, always pleasant to hear. “At least we don’t know for a fact that she’s dead.” He didn’t even believe himself and they all knew it, but was trying.

“All that means is she could tied up in some creep’s basement with an apple in her fucking mouth,” Leo’s high, piercing voice cut in. Reyna winced at the mental image and felt bile rise up at the back of her throat. _Leave it to Leo to say crap like that at a memorial_ , she thought as she swallowed it down. She’d seen the smirk he’d wear when he said shit like that so many times that she could picture it clearly, every detail down to the black, quirked eyebrows and the pimply brown skin.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Percy demanded. “Why would you say that, you fucking creep?” She couldn’t see him, but Reyna knew that he had that twisted, near terrifying expression he always wore when he was really mad about something, which was all the time lately. He’d been teetering on the edge of hysteria for weeks. Anything at any given time could and would set him off. Reyna could probably calm him down if she tried, but she didn’t even turn to look at them—too preoccupied with her own turmoil to care about anyone else’s. If anything, she just wanted the boys to fight somewhere else. Let those who wanted to mourn do so in peace.

“This isn’t the time,” Jason said before Leo could respond, gallant as ever. If Percy wasn’t so pissed off, he’d probably joke about blonde Superman saving the day once again.

“He’s right,” Nico added. “We should be paying our respects.”

“This isn’t a fucking funeral,” Percy said. “It’s like Frank said, we don’t know if she’s dead. Three weeks isn’t that long of a time to be gone. This is just a memorial.”

“Memorials are for _dead_ people, dipshit,” Leo said. “Why do you think we’re all in black?”

Reyna tuned them out after that, partly because she knew the rest of the conversation would be pointless and petty and partly because Leo wasn’t really wrong. Hazel and Piper seemed equally apathetic. They just stood in front of the shrine and looked at it without saying or doing anything. _We must look like dolls,_ Reyna thought. _All glassy-eyed and dead looking._ There were a few dolls in the pile, too. Old barbies and stuffed girls with felt dresses and porcelain ones with Reyna’s glass eyes. It was like they were a part of the memorial—living testaments to Annabeth’s impact. Reyna wanted to just shrink down and join the porcelain figures by herself, become a doll with an empty head and a hollow heart so she wouldn’t have to think about this awful day or feel how much she missed her friend. She was sick of everyone around her and suddenly that included Hazel and Piper, too.

“Leo has weird coping mechanisms,” Piper said out of the blue. “I know he sounds like he doesn’t care, but he does. He really does. It’s easier for him to be certain that she’s dead instead of hoping she’s alive.”

“He still shouldn’t have that,” Hazel said. “Nobody needed to hear that.”

“I know.”

“Where did they go anyways?” Reyna asked, realizing that she had stopped hearing their voices a few minutes ago.

“They went to the Jump,” Piper replied. “Probably so that they could argue with disturbing anyone. At least they’re somewhat considerate.”

“We should join them,” Hazel said. “I don’t want to look at this anymore.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like this,” Hazel said. She sounded emptier than normal, like someone reached down her throat and scooped out all her usual enthusiasm and left her with nothing. She was as neutral as the weather. “It doesn’t make me feel any better. I don’t like this at all.” Hazel left after that, without waiting for Reyna and Piper or explaining herself. She just floated through the crowd until neither of them could see her anymore.

“She’s right. I don’t feel better at all,” Piper sniffed. “This so surreal. They put her entire life into a pile. Every milestone is in there, everything that people remembered her by. That’s her life, right there.” She feebly pointed to the pile and sighed deeply. “It looks so small when it’s laid out like that. So short. And there’s nothing any of us can do about it.”

 _That’s not true._ I _could’ve done something,_ Reyna thought. _I could’ve done something when Annabeth called me. I don’t know what I could’ve done, but I could’ve done something more than cry about it. Maybe I could’ve told you. I could’ve told you and Jason and Percy and Frank and Leo but I didn’t. Now only Nico and Hazel know, and they can’t do anything about it. None of you can because she didn’t call you. She only called me, just me, and I didn’t do anything. Maybe I should’ve done something, but I was trying to protect us, I really was. Piper, you have to believe me. I only wanted to keep us safe. I didn’t know this was going to happen. I didn’t know she would never call me again._

She didn’t say any of that to Piper. Instead she asked her the question that was on everyone’s mind that day: “Do you think she’s dead?”

“I don’t think about it at all,” Piper answered. “If I’m being honest, yes. Three weeks is a long time for missing people. But I don’t want her to be dead, Reyna. I’m not like Leo. Thinking of her as dead doesn’t make me feel any better about it. It tears me up.” She wiped more tears from her heterochromatic eyes and looked into Reyna’s brown ones. “Do _you_ think she’s dead?”

Reyna opened her mouth to answer, but Piper cut her off with a chuckle. “What am I saying?” she said. “Of course you don’t think Annabeth is dead. You’re Reyna. You would never.”

* * *

 

Hazel left for the Jump a few minutes before she and Piper, but Reyna didn’t see her there when they arrived. The boys were already sitting there by the edge when she saw them. They didn’t look like they had been fighting, but they didn’t look entirely happy with each other, either. There was a thick tension in the air between each of them, like a fog. Leo sat as far from Percy and Frank as possible while Nico and Jason acted as human barriers. They didn’t talk in a group like they would’ve on any other day. Instead there was a silence as thick as the tension, only broken by the muffled footsteps of Reyna and Piper when they walked through the grass and onto the rocky cliff. None of them acknowledged their presence except Frank, who just barely looked up at them from where he was sitting next to Percy.

“You didn’t have to follow us,” he said guiltily. “You could’ve stayed if you wanted to.” His watery brown eyes were sad, and Reyna figured that he blamed himself for Leo and Percy arguing and felt like he ruined the grieving process for the girls. He was constantly taking responsibility for things that weren’t his fault. Reyna felt bad for him; it wasn’t a bad thing to want to stay positive, especially at a time like this. It wasn’t a bad thing for him to want one of his best friends to be alive. Was it really so horrible to be hopeful?

“We were done anyways,” Reyna said. “Don’t worry about it.” That seemed to relax him a little, but he still looked upset. He wiped his black dress over his eyes to wipe away a few tears, which made Reyna’s chest hurt. Frank had always been so nice, like the local big brother. After Annabeth and the di Angelo’s introduced her, he was the first person to accept her into their group. He even looked like a nice person: tall and soft and smiling. But he wasn’t smiling now, now he was blaming himself for things that were out of his control on top of being miserable over Annabeth. _Is this my fault? If I had done something about the phone call, would Frank still be crying right now? Would there even be anything to cry over? Would Annabeth be here with us enjoying the nothing weather?_

“Where’s Hazel?’ Nico asked. Piper shrugged and sat down on the rocks near Nico and Jason, neutral territory.

“She left before us,” she said. “I’m surprised she didn’t beat us here.”

“I should look for her,” Nico said, suddenly agitated. “It’s not safe to go out by yourself. She could be hurt or kidnapped or—”

“Calm down,” Leo interrupted. “Hazel has her phone.” With that, he dug in the pocket of his dirty jeans and pulled out his own cell phone. “I’ll just call her. Be right back.” He stood up, popping bones in his knees as he did, and walked a few yards away so he could get a better signal and have some privacy. He was so small to Reyna, even while standing at his full height. He couldn’t have been that much over five feet, even though his curly brown hair made him look an inch or two taller. Frank was over six feet and far stronger, but he never fought back with fists when Leo provoked him. Usually Annabeth would step in and make Leo stop. He respected her. Not even Leo Valdez made fun of Annabeth Chase, at least not when she was within earshot. There was nothing stopping him now. The whole ecosystem of the group was ruined. Take away the corner of the pyramid and the rest comes crashing down.

“She’ll be fine, Nico,” Reyna said. “The police said that they didn’t find any evidence of a serial kidnapper, anyways.”

“Yeah, well they also said that they couldn’t find any evidence of Annabeth, so I don’t really trust their judgement.”

“They’re still looking,” Frank offered unhelpfully.

“They’re not looking for anything,” Nico spat. “She could be living in a treehouse in the woods, perfectly fine and dandy without a single misplaced hair on her perfect head, and nobody would know because nobody’s fucking looking and nobody even cares but us.” None of them knew what to say to that, so none of them said anything and the thick silence blanketed them once again.

Jason was the one to break it this time, his voice so low that the silence almost swallowed it up. “Do you think this is a punishment? Like God or something is mad at us?”

“For what?” Piper asked. Jason shut his mouth and studied the ground like he regretted opening his mouth in the first place, his blue eyes flickering back and forth.

“For The Incident,” Jason managed after a pause. The words were enough to make all of them feel sick. Reyna felt color rise to her cheeks and her chest pound. She thought she heard Percy hold back a sob. Nico started crying, openly and messily. It occurred to Reyna that all of them had thought about this before, wondered if after two years of undeserved peace they were finally getting judgement. An eye for eye.

“I found Hazel!” Leo shouted from behind him, breaking their thoughts. “She said she just went home, I told you there was nothing to worry about.” Nico nodded his thanks to Leo and pushed himself off the ground to stand. He looked so frail to Reyna, like a sick child, and he was furiously rubbing tears off his face..

“We should head back, too, Reyna,” he said. “If Hazel’s home then our parents are probably going to wonder why we didn’t come back with her and Persephone doesn’t want us hanging out without supervision.” He was right; Persephone was terrified that they would all disappear from under her nose since Annabeth hadn’t been found yet. They still snuck out, but Reyna felt a little bad about making her worry. She joined her brother and said goodbye to her friends, none of whom looked like they really noticed her. They were busy with their own thoughts, especially after Jason put their fears into words for them, and Reyna couldn’t blame them for that.

_I could tell them about the call, she thought. They’re all as scared of The Incident as I am. They’d understand right? They would want to protect their friends if they were put in my shoes. They can’t blame me for being scared when all of us are terrified. I just wanted to keep our secret and keep all of us safe._

“Reyna,” Nico called, snapping her out of her thinking. She subconsciously stopped walking while she was running her options through her head, and Nico was several steps ahead of her. He looked almost nervous to walk through the woods, even though he had done it several times. He was in a hurry to get home.

“Are you coming or what?” he asked her.

“Yeah.” _No. Not now. They have too much on their minds already._ “I’m coming.”

* * *

 

_July 23, 2015, 6:24 p.m._

“You look pretty,” Nico says, tugging on the short sleeves of Reyna borrowed dress. It’s a flowery thing with a cinched waist and a hem that reaches her calves. The flowers are in so many different hues of pink and yellow that Reyna feels she looks like a garden and the high collar makes her neck itch. It’s not ugly, but it’s distinctly un-Reyna. Persephone insisted that she wear it to the party because she hadn’t worn it in years and thought it should get some wear. She said the same thing about the strappy pastel pink heels Reyna’s wearing, but while the dress fit her, the heels bite her toes and dig into the back of her ankles. Nico’s luckier. He just wears a regular white button down under a vest with some dark jeans. Persephone groaned at the sight of the jeans, but she’d given up on dressing Nico years ago. Reyna was too polite to refuse her.

“I look like a flower pot,” she says, brushing Nico’s hand away. “But Persephone’s happy so it doesn’t matter. And at least the party’s nice.”

Even Nico nods in agreement at that. It’s not as big as it would’ve been if Persephone had more time to plan, but considering that she threw everything together in less than a day, it’s pretty impressive. She and Hazel spent the whole day cooking up tiny sandwiches and desserts. Nico’s job was to arrange the food in pretty patterns on everyone’s plates while Reyna and Hades set up the small white tables. It was a group effort and it’s nice. Persephone only invited close friends because of the short notice (and a few of her silent enemies so she could subtly brag about how she managed to plan a party in a matter of hours), so it’s far more intimate than most of her celebrations are. Reyna sits with her family, although Persephone is off chatting and Hazel ran off to look for their friends.

“Is it weird that I’m nervous about seeing everybody again?” Reyna asks Nico.

“Not really. I’m a little nervous, to be honest.”

“I just feel so bad about never visiting anybody,” Reyna continues. “I mean, I wrote to people and texted them and all that, but I never came back. After all we went through in this place, I never came back. Isn’t that weird?”

“No. Considering all we went through in this town, I’m surprised any of us stayed. I always figured that we’d all move away for college. Most of us didn’t even go to college.”

“Why continue going to school when I can actually have a life?” a voice from behind Reyna interrupts. Before Reyna can turn around, a pair of brown arms wrap around her shoulders and a chin buries itself into her hair.

“Did you miss me?” Piper says, still leaning on Reyna’s back and laughing like they’re 16 again. When Reyna tilts her head back, she sees that she’s just as pretty as she was when she last saw her in senior year. Piper still has the same smooth brown skin, the same high cheekbones and the same mischievous look in her eyes, like she’s planning some new trick every waking moment.

“Oh my God, I did,” Reyna says, moving Piper’s arms from her shoulders so she can stand up and hug her properly. She still smells like the cinnamon gum she was caught chewing every day when they were kids. “I’ve been away for too long.”

“You have,” Piper agrees. “So have you, Nico Vincente di Angelo. But for the sake of our friendship, I’m willing to forgive you both. But now you have to start visiting more often, we have so much to catch up on.” She reaches down and links her arm with Nico’s, dragging him upright by the elbow so that they’re all standing together.

“This is so exciting,” Piper continues. “I’m getting flashbacks. Nice dress, by the way.”

“Shut up,” Reyna says. Piper looks stunning, of course. Her sleeveless mint green dress fits her perfectly, and her hair is done up in loose ringlets that frame her face. But Piper’s always been the kind of person who looks good in everything anyways.

“Who else is here?” Nico asks Piper.

“I’m not sure,” she says. “Well I know Leo’s here because I came with him, but I lost him somewhere. I’m positive everyone’s coming, though. I think Frank might’ve cried when he found out you guys were back. But I’m glad I got to you before the others because I’m seriously offended that Percy saw you guys before I did.”

“That’s only because Nico needed a chauffeur,” Reyna teases. “But we were going to surprise everyone at once, to be fair.”

“Doesn’t matter now. Now I have you all to myself, that’s much better. I just wish Leela was here, I really wanted to introduce you guys before we met up with the rest of the group.”

“I’m still in shock over you and Percy doing it,” Nico says.

“Honestly, so am I. But Leela’s the best. She was so excited to meet you guys, but Persephone said no kids and I hate pissing off that woman. She’s at home with Sally—you have to remember Percy’s mom, she really wants to see you guys—and Edie. But tomorrow you guys should come over and meet her.”

“Who’s Edie?” Nico asks.

“My other kid,” Piper says. “My niece, actually. You remember my my sister Drew?”

“I remember a really tall hot girl hitting on Reyna in freshman year.”

“That was Drew. Edie’s her daughter. I think she just wanted to copy me because I had a kid first, but then she realized that she can’t even take care of a houseplant, let alone a baby. So she asked me to take care of her while she’s out doing God knows what. I don’t mind, though. Edie’s only a few months old, too young to give me any real trouble.”

“You have _two_ kids?”

“Yeah, weird right?” Piper laughs. “I feel so old! I’m not even married and I’ve been living with Sally and her new husband since I was 19. Enough about me, though. I just can’t believe I’m seeing you two in the flesh again. I want to hear all about Chicago and Marina Del Rey when we’re alone. I know Leo really wanted to hear about Chicago. Speaking of, have you seen him anywhere? I was standing next to him when we walked in and _poof_ , he’s gone.” Reyna holds her tongue, but she’s not too upset about not seeing Leo first. She’s not sure if she hates him, per se, but she knows she also isn’t sure if she ever really liked him. He had been friends with her friends, so they were often together, but they never interacted one on one. She always found Leo annoying, self-centered, and unable to find the line between playfully teasing your friends and bullying them. But he might as well be Piper and Jason’s brother and Reyna trusts their judgement for the most part, she figures he must have some redeeming qualities.

“Wait, nevermind!” Piper says. “I see him over there by the drinks. Typical Leo, but whatever. Nut Frank’s over there by the house, why don’t you guys go talk to him? I’ll get Leo and bring him over. How long has it been since you’ve seen Teddy Bear anyways?”

“Forever,” Reyna admits. Nico nods in agreement. Even if Leo isn’t on the list of her favorite people, Frank is definitely up there and she does miss him a lot.

“Then go on,” Piper says as she walks over the drink table, looking back at them. “Go get the gang back together.”  

* * *

 When Frank pulls her and Nico into a bear hug so tight that Reyna can feel the breath leave her body, Reyna really starts to feel like she’s at home again.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Franks says loudly into their ears. “God, I missed you guys so much.”

“You’ll really miss us if you crush us to death,” Nico squeals. Frank laughs and lets them go, looking down at them like they’re presents and it’s Christmas morning. He always had a way of making people he loved feel special, and Reyna feels secure just looking up at him. He still towers over her and all of their friends and he’s still as beefy as he was when they were kids, but his face has rounded out and his muscles have definition now. It makes him looks less cute and more handsome.

“We missed you too, big guy,” Reyna laughs, playfully hitting him in the arm (it hurts her fingers a little, but she’ll never tell him that). “How’ve you been? How’s your mom? How’s your grandmother? She didn’t die on me, did she?” she asks, thinking of the short, white-haired woman with the biting words and judging eyes who Frank lived with when they were kids. Her daughter—Frank’s mother, Emily—was the opposite. She was very Frank-like in demeanor: calm, kind, and sweet as honey.

“Still alive, still on my ass,” he replies breezily. Reyna doesn’t doubt it; she has bittersweet memories of Frank’s grandmother rapping her on the hands with a ruler when she ate too many cookies or touched something she wasn’t supposed to. “She’s been here since Genesis and she’ll probably be here on Judgement Day. And I’ve been good. I’ve been great, actually. I’m going to try online college, so that’s exciting.”

“I thought you went after high school,” Nico says. Frank shakes his head. “Why not? You were such a goody two-shoes, you could’ve gone to Yale or something.”

Frank shrugs. “I wanted to take care care of my mom and grandma. Mom broke her hip a little after graduation and gram’s just getting older. So I stayed to help out. You don’t need a degree to get a job here anyways.”

“Classic Frank.”

“Classic Nico, running off to California before the graduation ceremony was even finished and never looking back. But I’m glad you guys are here now. It’s been too long. I missed you. I miss us.”

“Me too,” Reyna agrees, and she means it. They both do, and she and Frank make an unspoken agreement to not be like those childhood friends who have awkward reunions and make empty promises to see each other when they’re already planning to never speak again.

“Hey, do you know where Jason is? Piper went over to get Leo but I can’t see Wonder Boy anywhere.” Out of all her close friends, Jason had been one of the closest, second only to Annabeth. Seeing him again would complete the circle.

“He called me before the party,” Frank says. “He couldn’t make it. His brother—you remember Apollo, right?—runs the hospital so he got a job there. He’s busy all the time now. He’s always taking care of some patient. But he promised he would see you guys before you left.” Frank’s tone has a trace of apology, perceptive to Reyna’s slight disappointment to hear Jason wouldn’t be able to make it, but she understands. It makes sense, too, that he’s working at a hospital, having always been the kind of guy who wanted to help first and foremost. She can picture him in his nurse's scrubs, cleaning out a bedpan or soothing a crying child. It’s so very _Jason_ that Reyna feels a wave of relief. He really hasn’t changed and that’s exactly what she needs to hear.

“So Wonder Boy went off to save the children?” Reyna hears a voice say from behind her. She recognizes it immediately, because there are only two voices that make her feel this uncomfortable. The first would be her condescending high school counselor, who she had to see regularly after Annabeth’s disappearance and sounded like a toddler gargling safety pins. The second person...

“Oh. Leo, I didn’t see you there.” Out of everyone Reyna had a reunion with so far, Leo was the one who has changed the least. Out of everyone Reyna had a reunion with so far, he’s the one she wished had changed the most. He’s still short and he still has those wild, brown curls. But Leo could’ve grown two feet and straightened his hair and he would still be recognizable by that shit-eating grin that was perpetually plastered on his face. That annoying, cocky smile that Reyna thought of smashing in over and over again throughout her childhood. _Violent thoughts about Leo,_ she thinks. _It really is like old times_.

“I’m short, I know. You don’t look too thrilled to see me,” he teases, elbowing her in the arm with just enough force to make her stumble back. It annoys her, but she holds back a much harder shove and smiles instead. Piper’s right next to him and she’d rather put up with Leo than make her uncomfortable.

“I am happy to see you,” Reyna says. It doesn’t even sound convincing to herself when she hears it, so she knows nobody else thinks she’s believable. She catches Nico and Frank sharing a look out of the corner of her eye and Piper’s just smiling.

“No you’re not, but it doesn’t matter,” Leo says, still grinning. “ _I’m_ happy to see _you_. I miss having someone roll their eyes at everything I do. It lets me know that I’m really impacting the people.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Annabeth was better at it though,” he continues, pouring out a quarter of his probably spiked punch on the ground when he says her name. “She could glare at me like I killed her mother. But you’re an ok replacement.” Hearing her name reminded Reyna of the journal and why she and Nico came to Agesander in the first place. As quick as a snap of the fingers, her good mood vanishes and she starts to feel cold all over.

“Glad to hear it,” she repeats humorlessly. Even the little bit of joviality she had from seeing Frank and Piper is drained from her and she doesn’t feel like entertaining Leo anymore.

“Don’t be rude, Leo,” Piper cuts in, picking up on Reyna’s sudden change in mood. “This is supposed to be a happy reunion, not a fistfight.

“I wouldn’t fight Reyna if you paid me but I appreciate the concern,” Leo says as he pulls a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket. “I’m just being nice. Reyna’s the one being moody.” He lights one and puts it in his mouth before offering one to the others. Nico takes one but the rest refuse. Reyna refuses the cigarettes only because they’re Leo’s.

“And I’m great, thanks for asking,” Leo says as he lights the end of Nico’s cigarette. “I’ve been running an auto shop with my cousin. Remember Calypso? She was good friends with Percy back in the day.”

“I remember her," Nico says. "She’s the pretty one with the dark hair right?” Leo nods. “Cool, cool. How is it?” He asks after puffing out a few grey clouds of smoke.

“We make good money since we’re the only auto shop in a 10 mile radius. Hey, since I’m running a business and I actually went to college, it looks like I’m the most successful out of all of you. Who would’ve thought, right? Annabeth would be so proud of me. She always thought I’d do something cool. She actually believed in me unlike a certain sorta pretty lady I know whose name starts with an R.” Reyna feels her teeth grind hard.

“Reyna has something to tell everyone,” Nico blurts out, cutting through the tension. “It’s important. It’s about Annabeth.” Leo’s grin drops off his face and everyone’s eyes turn towards Reyna.

“What about Annabeth?” Frank asks cautiously. Reyna unlocks her jaw and breathes through her nose slowly, a calculated breath that’s supposed to calm her down but doesn’t. She's never liked attention.

 “It’s a journal. A fake journal. I think it could have something to do with her disappearing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not super happy with this one but i felt bad about taking so long to update and i wanted to get something out there :/ the next chapter is when things get interesting
> 
> i suck at responding to comments but i do read them all and i love getting new ones so please review if u can!


	5. the mystery gang (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A message from beyond the grave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> huge thank u to grace and izzy for being my betas/cheerleaders
> 
> also remember that I added a part to the end of the previous chapter, that's important!

_July 23, 2015, 7:06 p.m._

“So you mean to tell me,” Leo starts, pacing back and forth on the oriental rug that decorates the di Angelo living room, “that the two of you came all the way here to Agesander—Chicago is about 600 miles away from here, did you know that Reyna? Marina Del Rey is like, 2000 miles away, that’s a great distance—not to visit the people that made your childhood worth having but to tell us about a fake journal that probably means nothing so we can close a case that’s been unsolved for almost a decade?”

Leo is actually the one who takes the news best. Frank is still silent, sitting on the plush couch with his legs and body leaned away from Reyna and Nico. His ever-smiling mouth is set in a harsh, grim line and he didn’t look Reyna in the eyes when she told them everything about her findings and the journal and the code. Moodier than Reyna’s ever seen him before, she feels almost ashamed, as if she broke Frank’s sunny disposition. Piper won’t even look at her. She stands in the corner facing the old grandfather clock, stroking the smooth, polished wood as if to self-soothe. Reyna hears the _tick, tock_ of the clock and sees that Piper moves her hand up and down to the rhythm. Definitely trying to calm down. Reyna remembers her panic attacks from when they were little. Piper had several after Annabeth disappeared. Shaking, stuttering, wringing her pretty hands as if to wrench her own fingers from their sockets, Reyna saw it all. And every time she would try to calm by listening to a simple beat, like a clock, and stroking something smooth. _Tick, tock_ , touch. _Tick, tock_ , touch. She learned the trick during one of her many therapy sessions. It hurts Reyna to see her still using those coping mechanisms, because if she still remembered then, she was probably still using them frequently. The living room—a place where they used to laugh and play as children, a place where they whispered secrets and told jokes and loved—is tense. Reyna feels as if she could reach out and touch the grouped anxiety in the room with her fingertips. She imagines it would be damp and frigid, even colder than she already is.

Annabeth Chase is a touchy topic.

“Essentially, yes,” Nico says, on his third cigarette now. He and Leo started when they were young, stealing cigars from Leo’s mother and burning their hands trying to light them. Reyna had thought he wasn’t chain smoking anymore, but she figures anxiety brings out old habits. When he finishes, he puts it out on his own shoe, leaving dark, white-rimmed stains.

“Well I hate to say this, but the both of you have lost your minds. I always thought Piper would be the first to really crack but it looks like you two are the winners. Your prize is me never calling again—Reyna, I’m thinking of you.”

“I haven’t lost anything,” Reyna says, angry but controlled. “I just want some closure. We never got over her leaving us—”

“You mean disappearing,” Leo cuts in. “She didn’t leave anyone, she disappeared. Very different connotations, my friend.” He’s puffing smoke as he speaks, like some sort of human-dragon hybrid. Reyna wants to strike him.

“Fine, we never got over her disappearing. It happened and it was terrible, but we can’t just ignore it. We’ve spent nine years with this weighing on our chests; don’t you think it would be good to know for sure that we did all we could?”

Leo shrugs, putting out the cigarette on his thickly calloused hands like he did as a teenager to impress the 20-somethings in the bars they would sneak into. It always looked so casual when he did it. Too casual, in a way that looked like he was trying very hard to look cool. “Maybe. Or maybe it’ll just open up old wounds. I already think about it every day. Did you know that? Or did you just magically forget that you weren’t her only friend and that the rest of us loved her, too? Because I loved her, Reyna. I did.” He chokes out a bitter laugh. “Not a day goes by when I don’t think about her. But I’ve moved on. I have a life. I’m not obsessed. It doesn’t bother me the way it used to.”

Piper’s strokes become audible, and they sound faster than the beat of the clock now. “I think about it,” she says, still rubbing, still facing the clock and not meeting anyone’s eyes. “I think about bad things happening to her all the time. Sometimes I wake up and think _‘Hey, what if Annabeth got stabbed in the chest?’_ or _‘Wonder if she was kept by a kidnapper for months or just a few weeks before they finally killed her’_. I can’t be the only one.”

“I think about the Incident,” Frank says suddenly, his eyes closed and his fists clenched until his knuckles turn an ashy white. Piper’s rubbing becomes loud, frantic, making sharp squeaks on the hard wood. Reyna hears muffled sobs and the soft thud of a slippered foot stomping on a carpet in frustration. Nico lights two cigarettes and puts them both in his mouth at the same time, lighting and puffing them in unison to get that extra hit of nicotine and the brief bliss that comes with it. Leo snatches one right out of Nico’s mouth and smokes it himself. Reyna is the only one unaffected by Frank’s words. The Incident barely crosses her mind, a mind far too consumed by Annabeth Chase to worry about anything else from the past. She only thinks about the Incident when it occasionally pops up in her nightmares. The worst ones are the dreams she’s had of Annabeth being the one trapped and screaming in agony, of watching Annabeth fall and break as she hit the ground instead of—

“Let’s not talk about that,” Reyna says.

“And why not?” Leo laughs cruelly, brandishing the cigarette. “You’re the one who said we shouldn’t ignore things. So why are we ignoring the Incident, hmm? I say we talk about it! Let’s tell the world!”

“Leo, stop,” Piper sobs. The rubbing stops and she falls to the ground on her bare knees, the self-care method now useless. The clock goes on, _tick, tock,_ and Piper starts rocking back and forth to beat. Her dress pools around her legs and turns dark in small spots where her tears drip through the gaps between her fingers. Frank’s collected demeanor evaporates immediately. He rushes over to her and kneels down to her level, carefully wrapping his arms around her small shoulders and holding her close to his body.

“Leo, that’s enough,” he says sternly. Any anger he had towards Reyna was now directed at Leo.

“No, it’s not,” Leo continues. “If Reyna and Nico want to tie up all our loose ends, then let’s do it. Let’s get some real closure But we better tie up every last one of them because I know not a single one of us is over the Incident. You know why Jason works at the hospital of all places? Because of _Her_ He still feels guilty about what we did. He visits Her every day. He’s Her personal nurse. But not even Wonder Boy himself can’t save us, so why not repent like the good people we are, huh? I know where Her mom lives. She’s all alone now, so I’m sure she’d love a visitor. We can go over right now. We can even visit Her, how does that sound? Would you like that, Reyna? Nico?” Reyna can’t breathe. She tries to inhale and exhale deeply to calm down, but her breath is caught in her throat and it has claws. It’s sharp and it hurts and it buries into the soft skin of her trachea. Thinking about seeing _Her_ again does that to her, makes her freeze up and stops her body from working right. She racks her brain to find some of the coping mechanisms she learned as a child, but unlike Piper, she never used them and thus forgot about them. He wished she remembered at least one. Just picturing seeing Her lovely face, so pretty, and now so sad. So sad because of what they did to her. That terrible, unspeakable thing that they can never apologize for.

They were only children then. Children.

“So how about it then?” Leo’s on a roll now, wild-eyed and possessing the kind of sick happiness that Reyna can only compare to a TV serial killer. “You and me, Reyna, let’s do it. Let’s go see Her mom. Maybe after we apologize for what we did to her daughter we can ask her make us those lavender cookies. Remember how she used to make cookies for everyone until we got rid of her only family member and became so depressed that she could barely move? Well it couldn’t hurt to at least ask for the recipe! Because once we tell her about the Incident she’ll probably kill herself and we wouldn’t want her cookies to be lost forever now would w—”

 _“LEO!”_ Piper screams, inadvertently shoving Frank to the floor as she shoots up and whirls around to look him dead in his cold eyes. Hers are watery and reddish, blood vessels now clearly visible in the whites and grey pools towards the rim where her mascara blended with her tears and made them dark. But most of all, they’re angry eyes. Reyna can feel it rolling off her in waves, permeating the room. Leo steps back for a moment as if her rage shoved him. His expression morphs from one of manic, sadistic glee to one that Reyna doesn’t think she’s ever seen on his face before: apology. Leo was always closer to Piper than anyone else. Even someone as ruthless as him loved people, and Piper was one of those people.

“I-I’m sorry,” he stammers. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Piper, this is just a lot.I didn’t-I didn’t mean to...to…” He reaches out to her, hopeful and honest, to let her know that he really is sorry—not sorry to anyone else, but sorry to her and only her. She steps back.

A clock ticking. The sounds of birds from outside. The echoes of laughter from a party long forgotten, now unimportant.

“Just stop,” Piper says, done crying and now wiping the excess off her tear-stained face. “None of us want to hear this. None of us can hear this right now. Just stop.”

Heavy breathing. A cigarette lighter being flicked on. The stuttering of an apology. Heavy breathing. An aftermath. Heavy breathing. A decision, heavy breathing, heavy breathing, _heavy breathing_.

“Tell us about the journal Reyna,” Piper says, weary and heavy-eyed, having aged a few years after thinking about the Incident again. Hair in disarray, dress wrinkled, makeup running. “I don’t care who else is in. I’m in and I want to do this.”

“It’s bad for your health, Piper,” Leo says. “Please, just think about this.” His tone is not condescending or mean anymore, it’s worried. His eyes are as wide and earnest as a child’s. He’s genuinely concerned for Piper’s well-being. Reyna finds it almost touching. Even though she still isn’t fond of him, she’s glad that he’s not completely heartless.

“I’m in, too,” Frank says, still sitting on the carpet by the ticking clock. “Even if it’s nothing, I want to look into it. Just in case. I need to know that we did everything we could’ve done.” He and Piper nod at each other.

“Piper, please,” Leo says, taking on a begging tone. “We were in therapy for years after the Incident and Annabeth dying. We used to have sleeping fits, a-and flashbacks. You asked me to hold your hand when we went outside, you were so scared that something would happen.” He’s crying now and it shocks Reyna. She had never seen him cry before, ever.

“We had literal _PTSD_ ,” he cries, tears streaming down the bumps on his face. “I remember when we got diagnosed. I can’t go through this again, please don’t open this up again. You have a daughter now, a life. We can finally move on, please. We can’t do this again.” It’s silent crying, the kind of crying that people do when they want to stay strong. He bites his lip so hard that it turns red and starts to bleed and Reyna has never seen him so vulnerable. Reyna starts to pity him. Piper doesn’t.

“I’m sorry,” she says. Cool, detached, hollow. “Frank’s right. I need to know that I did all I could. You don’t have to join us, it’s okay. But I need to stop thinking about her, and if this silly journal is what will do that, then I’m going to investigate. I’m so, so sorry.”

Leo steps away from her slowly and falls back on the couch like a limp doll. He makes a huffing sound like the air was punched out of him. It’s the sound of giving in. “Fine. Fine. I’m not letting you do this alone, so fine. Just...fine.” He goes for another cigarette, but the pack is empty. He swears and throws it on the ground.

“I’ll get Hazel and Percy,” Nico says, getting up from the couch, eager to leave.

“No,” Piper says. “Just Hazel. Percy can’t handle this right now. If I can barely handle it, Percy can’t. We’ll get him later.”

“I don’t want to exclude anybody,” Reyna says. “I don’t want any of us being kept in the dark.” _I already kept you in the dark once before, and that didn’t turn out so well_.

“I’ll tell him,” Piper says. “I’ll tell him and Jason. Later. Right now we’re not in the best position ourselves to tell them. Let’s just wait a moment, okay?” It’s phrased as a question, but everyone looks in her now frozen eyes and knows it’s a command. Crying Piper is gone. Stern Piper is not someone to be taken lightly, so none of them even attempt to question her. Nico almost trips over his own two feet in his hurry to leave the room.

“Reyna,” she says, making direct, unwavering eye contact with her. “why do you think this journal is so important and that we won’t decode a completely useless message?”

Reyna fights the urge to squirm under her gaze, but shivers from the inexplicable cold she starts to feel crawling up her spine. “I just have this feeling. I can’t explain it, but I know it’s important.” Piper and Frank nod as if that makes all the sense in the world, but Leo groans audibly.

“A feeling,” he chuckles. “Wow. We’re going to relive one of the single most horrifying moments of our collective childhood because of a feeling.”

“Leo,” Piper snaps. He sinks lower into the couch and starts to pout.

“Fine. I won’t say anything else,” he resigns, turning to face Reyna. “Except this: if this journal thing turns out to be nothing, you better your ass out of town because I never want to see you again.” 

* * *

 _IF YOU_ ( ARE ) _READING THIS I_ ( AM ) _SORRY_

 _I_ ( AM ) _SO SORRY FOR ALL_ ( OF THE ) _THINGS I_ ( HAVE ) _DONE_

( I HAVE ) _DONE MANY THINGS_

_MANY TERRIBLE THINGS_

_I DESERVE NOTHING_ ( BUT THE ) _WORST_

 _I AM_ ( THE ) _WORST_

 _I MUST REPENT I MUST CLEANSE_ ( THESE ) _HANDS_ ( OF ) _BLOOD AND REPENT FOR_ ( MY ) _SINS_

 _IF YOU_ ( ARE ) _READING THIS I_ ( AM ) _SORRY_

 _I MUST GO_ ( TO THE ) _WOODS_

 _THOSE WOODS WHERE_ ( I ) _DID_ ( A ) _TERRIBLE THING_

 _I MUST GO_ ( BACK TO THAT ) _PLACE AND_ ( I ) _MUST REPENT_

 _IF YOU_ ( ARE ) _READING THIS_ ( DO ) _NOT FOLLOW ME_

 _DO NOT LOOK_ ( FOR ) _ME_

 _DO NOT TRY_ ( TO ) _FIND OUT WHAT_ ( I HAVE DONE )

 _I AM NOT_ ( WHO ) _YOU THINK I_ ( AM )

 _JUST KNOW_ ( THAT ) _I_ ( AM ) _IN_ ( THOSE ) _WOODS I AM IN_ ( THOSE ) _WOODS_

 _AND I_ ( WILL ) _NEVER RETURN_

 _AND IF YOU_ ( ARE ) _READING THIS I_ ( AM ) _SORRY_

* * *

They sit in a circle around the coffee table in Nico’s small, windowless room. The journal and decoder sit on the table, seemingly harmless. The walls are burgundy and one of the lightbulbs popped long ago; the effect is eerie. Reyna never liked Nico’s room, but Nico loved spending his days sitting in the darkness. Reyna preferred her bright, airy room with the fairy lights and wide space as a child, and she still does. If she were there now, the already tense situation might feel the tiniest bit more comfortable. Everyone else is equally uncomfortable. All of their body language screams that they would rather be anywhere else. Hazel—who was lucky enough to miss the earlier fighting and therefore isn’t as worn out—is the only one who isn’t on the verge of throwing up. The fighting spirit vanished from Piper the moment she found the decoder sheet, so Stern Hazel easily and quickly took over, assigning everyone a job once she heard the full story from Nico. Nico matched up the symbols to the words, Piper wrote down the coded words and filled in a few of the gaps with filler words so they would make more sense, and Frank was to keep Leo and Reyna from popping off on each other. Reyna and Leo’s job was to not pop off on each other. Decoding the message was the easiest part. Piper was the first to ravage Nico’s room and found the code sheet in under five minutes. Persephone hated to throw anything out, no matter how trivial, so all she had to do was find the boxes of Nico’s old things and dig through them until she found the right one. Easy. Then Nico and Piper did their job of decoding and showed everyone the message. Also easy.

The hard part was actually reading the message.

“‘Those woods where I did a terrible thing’,” Piper repeats. “That’s obviously the Agesander Forest Preserve. Those are the only woods we have here.” After Stern Piper came Numb Piper, a small shell of a thing, distant and dead. Her bright eyes have lost all their luster and her hair and skin seem dull and ashy.

“That’s where the Incident happened,” Frank adds. They’ve all read the message ten times each. Over and over again, re-reading those words. Only Annabeth would write something like that, they all know. This is her message. This is her message and it was probably meant for them.

“Well, at least this isn’t nothing,” Leo says. No sarcasm, just pure disbelief. Reyna can’t blame him.

“I never knew she felt this way about herself,” Nico says sadly. A picture of him and Annabeth as toddlers has been resting on his nightstand for years, and he makes a point not to look at it. “I knew we all felt terrible, but... _wow_. This is intense. She really hated herself.”

“Would you tell anyone is you felt like this?” Reyna asks. It’s an honest question.

“I don’t know,” Nico responds, and his response is equally honest. “I guess I wouldn’t want to burden anyone.”

“It wouldn’t have been a burden,” Hazel says. “We loved her.” _Not loved. Love,_ Reyna mentally corrects. _Present tense._ Even now.

“In any case,” Hazel continues, “I’m glad Reyna was on to something.” She leans into Reyna and puts a hand on her shoulder in respect. “I’m glad you brought this to us. It’s a step in the right direction. This can help us get some closure.” Reyna’s glad that Hazel’s with her, because she feels a little bit better at the contact. Hazel’s always been so warm, physically and metaphorically, and Reyna feels the cold melt away, physically and metaphorically. But something about Hazel feels fake. She can’t put her finger on what’s making her think that or why she feels this way, but it bothers her a little. Still, warmth is always comforting and Reyna pushes her suspicions to back of her head.

“So what are we supposed to do with this?” Leo asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, are we supposed to find a body or what?"

“Wait, what do you mean _find a body_?” Hazel asks incredulously, taking her hand off Reyna’s shoulder and leaving it lukewarm. “I thought you guys just wanted to investigate to make she wasn't kidnapped or murdered or talk about what we found with a therapist or something. You’re not actually planning on finding her are you?” She immediately turns towards Reyna, as if she were thinking exactly that, which she clearly was.

“I never said we were going to find her alive,” Reyna says, although it pains her to admit that’s she’s most likely dead out loud. “I just figured if we got an idea of where she was then we could give some information to the police and they could reopen the case. If they find the...the body we could have a proper funeral, and what better closure than a funeral?” The mention of police makes everyone squirm; Piper shudders so hard her bones crack and pop. Police always bring investigations and investigations reveal secrets. And none of them wanted any of their secrets laid out in the open.

“The case has been closed for nine years, Rey,” Frank says, "and if this message is real then she probably ran away from home or killed herself." His dark eyes looking at her with pity and wariness. It makes Reyna’s flesh burn.

“We don't know that for sure. And police open cold cases all the time,” Reyna says. “It’s not like they have anything better to do in this boring little town. Let’s just give them the message and see what they do with it.”

“What if they connect it to...y’know... _Her_ ,” Piper whispers, even though it’s just them in the whole house. Reyna starts to feel the walls of the room close down into her and threaten to smother her alive, but the feeling dissipates as quickly as it comes.

“There’s nothing in the journal about Her or the Incident or any other crime,” Nico says. “It’s just a bunch of regular teenage stuff and then that message. They won’t be able to figure anything out from it.” Hazel and Leo don’t look convinced, but Frank and Piper are warming up to the idea. Reyna’s just glad that her intuition was actually right and she didn’t put her friendships on the line for nothing.

“I still think we should leave it alone,” Leo says. “Her family still lives here and they already dealt with this crap. C’mon guys, think about her parents, her brothers.”

“Annabeth would probably want us to do anything to piss off her family,” Piper laughs. “But yeah, Leo has a point.”

“I think it’s a bad idea,” Hazel says. “I think we should leave this in the past. What’s done is done and all that.”

“But how are we supposed to move on when we have this new information,” Nico protests. “We can’t just reopen this and walk away from it. We have to close this. For good, this time.”

“I closed it already,” Leo says, teetering on anger now. “I was fine until you guys came back and sliced it back open.”

 _Well my wounds never closed_ , Reyna wants to say. _They were always open and every day they got more infected, raw and oozing. Instead she says “Well I’m going to the police. I’m giving them the decoder and the journal and they can decide what to do with them. You guys don’t have to come with, but I want to finish this once and for all.” Reyna stands up, popping her knees as she does so, and stretches her arms over her head. She reaches for the journal and the sheet as Hazel slams her hand over Reyna’s._

“What the _fuck_ was that for?” she cries out, pained by the force of Hazel’s pointy hands digging into her own bony ones. Hazel doesn’t respond, doesn’t look at her, just stares straight ahead as if she were possessed. Gold eyes unfocused and dizzying.

“Hazel!” She quickly snaps out of her trance and releases Reyna, who clutches her hand to her chest in an attempt to help relieve the pain. It throbs in tune with her heartbeat and Reyna hates it. Everyone just stares at them, as if they’re too shocked by everything that happened that day to intervene or scold Hazel for her outburst.

“Sorry. Sorry,” Hazel slurs. “Just a headache. But no, I don’t want you going to the police.”

“For God’s sake Hazel, why the hell not?”

“It’s risky, okay?” she snaps, suddenly irritable, eyebrows down and glaring at her sister. “What we did wasn’t just morally wrong, it was _illegal_. If we glossed over something in the journal and they find out that we were even semi-related to what happened to Her then we are dead. We could go to prison for all we know. I know this town. A case like this would be the most exciting thing to happen in years. They’d make a spectacle out of us. It’s too risky. We haven’t even decoded the whole journal yet, just that one passage from when she went missing. There could be more to the story and if it’s related to the Incident and the police decode it, we are dead, Reyna. If she put something as personal as that in there, who knows what else we’ll find. Once we make sure that there’s nothing about the Incident, we can give it to the cops. But until then, this is in our hands. If you really want to find out more, let’s go to the woods ourselves, alright? We can go tomorrow morning. At dawn so nobody sees us. Agreed?”

Reyna considers the pros and cons. Pro: No risk of the Incident getting out. Con: No professional help. Pro: Get to keep the journal and look into it further for more evidence. Con: Not a lot of resources to find her. Pro: Annabeth’s family doesn’t have to get hurt. Con: We can’t tell anyone how we found anything if we find anything. Pro, and this was one that Reyna would keep to herself, one that she would never tell anyone at the risk of seeming more pathetic and lovesick than they already probably thought she was: If Annabeth is alive, Reyna would be the first to see her. Con: Nothing that matters in comparison.

“Alright,” Reyna agrees. “I’m in. I’ll be ready at 6 am. Who else is in?”

“I am,” Piper says.

“I am,” Frank says.

“Same," Nico says. Everyone turns to look at Leo, who’s looking down at a stain on the floor as if it’s the most interesting thing in the world. He finally looks up when Piper shoves his shoulder, startling him.

“Fine. Peer pressure wins again,” he grumbles. “I’m bringing my own flashlight. Who wants to bring a shovel just in case we have to dig something up?”

“Go home, Leo,” Hazel says tiredly. “Just go home. In fact, everyone whose last name isn’t di Angelo, can just go home. We’ll see you tomorrow. This is has just been a really long day and everyone needs to go home and rest.” Piper, Frank, and Leo all awkwardly get up to leave. None of them say goodbye, but Piper each Hazel, Nico, and Reyna quick hugs before she rushes out the door. Reyna thinks that she’ll hold her kids closer tonight. Frank will probably be extra nice to his mom and grandma. Leo—well, Leo might not do anything different. They leave Reyna and her siblings alone in that dark room by themselves.

“It has been a long day,” Nico sighs. “I’m going to buy some cigarettes because it looks like I'm smoking again. You guys do whatever.” He leaves, not quite slamming the door behind him but using enough force to jostle Annabeth’s photo on his desk.

“Reyna, Reyna, Reyna,” Hazel chuckles once they’re alone together. “Oh my God, you have no idea what you’ve just gotten us into. No idea at all.”

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see. I've already seen, but you will, too. You'll see soon enough."

* * *

_Golden eyes that see more than they’re supposed to. Dark brown eyes and a one-track mind. Two sisters with two very different childhoods. Pretty girls with ugly pasts._

“Hey Reyna. What’s up?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to ask you if you’re okay.”

“I’m fine. I guess. As fine as I can be in this situation, so I think that’s something.”

_A pause._

“Hazel.”

“Yes, Reyna?”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Why do you think I’m not telling you something.”

“You've been acting weird. Cryptic.”

"There's lots I don't tell you, sis. I'm sure you don't tell me lots of things.”

"I tell you important things. I told you about the phone call."

"You told Nico about the phone call and Nico told me, but whatever."

"I told you about my dad. I told you about Hylla."

"Hmm. That's true. Maybe I am too secretive."

_Another pause. Dark hands with darker bloodstains. Bad kids who want so desperately to be good but it's not in their DNA. Complicated secrets for complicated people._

"Tell me something."

"Like what?"

"Anything that's on your mind."

"Fine. I think looking for Annabeth is a bad idea. I think you had a crush on her when we were younger and you were devastated when she disappeared because you never got to tell her and now you're obsessed with finding her even though you know you can't. I can't see this ending well. I don't see this ending the way you want it to."

"Ouch."

"I think you need professional help. You're still in love with a dead girl and it’s bad for you."

"Probably true, but I didn't ask you to psychoanalyze me, Hazel."

"You asked me to say what was on my mind and that's been on my mind for a while."

"If you think it's a bad idea then why are you helping me look for her?"

"Because you're my sister and I love you and no self-destructive wild goose chase will change that."

"Thank you."

"Anytime."

_The sound of a comb running through thick hair. The sound of sheets moving as two people share a bed, too nervous to sleep alone. A conversation drifting into rambling. Two girls with everything to lose and very little to gain._

"Hazel."

"Yes?"

"You said that you didn't see this ending well."

"Yes."

"You see a lot of things that you don't tell me about."

"Yes."

"What else do you see?"

"Too much, Reyna. More than you think."

_I AM NOT WHO YOU THINK I AM_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just watched the how to get away with murder mid-season finale so i'm on a drama high
> 
> review if u like it bc kudos are great but reviews are what really keep me going!


	6. could you lend me a hand?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes on a scavenger hunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for slight gore

_October 30, 2003, 10:46 p.m._

The Jump was cold at night. It was a small clearing made almost entirely out of rock, with some grass here and there, so Reyna could feel the hard stone dig into her backside. It hurt to sit down, but she stayed. The view was the best part, she could see the whole night sky and the full moon looked close enough to touch. The seance, like many of the things their group did, was Annabeth's suggestion, and she had planned it down to every detail. The ouija board wasn't just some plastic plaything bought at a toy store; it was a handcrafted, generations-old board made of smooth, dark mahogany and engraved with beautiful calligraphic letters. It belonged to Hazel's mother, Maria, a beautiful, mysterious woman who used to work for the di Angelos until it was revealed that she was having an affair with Hades. She ran off in the middle of the night, leaving a newborn Hazel with a note and a box of heirlooms from her family in New Orleans. Persephone urged Hazel to get rid of it, jealous that she wasn't her only mother, but Hazel refused. She kept it in a sacred corner of her room where she kept everything her mother gave her. When Annabeth saw the board under a deck of tarot cards and some prayer beads, she was instantly taken with it. So that Halloween it was decided: they were going to hold a seance.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Frank asked. He was biting his nails down to pink nubs and flitting his widened eyes between Annabeth and the ouija board. They all agreed to sneak out during the night after trick or treating and meet at Castellan's Jump for the seance. It was a chilly night, but not so cold that they needed heavy coats. The night dark was pitch black and glittered with stars, unlike the starless grey skies of big cities. The moon wasn't full like Annabeth wished it was, but it was bright enough to light up the Jump and cast dark shadows. Annabeth said it was perfect for a seance.

"I'm sure," Annabeth said. The moonlight reflected off her gold hair and made it almost white. Her skin looked so pale, like polished bone. Reyna thought she looked like a spirit herself, so ethereal and beautiful with crystalline eyes and sharp teeth.

"I've used it before, Frank," Hazel said as she pat his bouncing knee. "It's perfectly safe, I swear. I've never had anything bad happen to me while using it."

"See? It's totally fine." Annabeth pulled a grey thermos out of her backpack and poured fragrant, dark liquid into the attached cup. It smelled earthy, but Reyna couldn't place which plants were in it. Annabeth drank down the tea in one gulp and passed it around after a slight grimace.

"I looked up seances on the Internet," she said, "and I saw this recipe for a tea that strengthens your psychic powers. How cool is that?" Percy was next to Annabeth, so he gulped down the second cup of psychic tea. He nearly choked on it and started coughing.

"It takes like dirt," he complained, wiping his mouth on his sleeve and passing it to Jason, who refused it and handed it to Piper.

"Not every spell can taste like wildflowers, Perce. And if it works, it'll be worth it." Piper drank hers ("It tastes good, you losers are weak.") and passed it on to Hazel.

"I'll pass," she said, handing it to Leo.

"I'll pass too," he said. He handed it to Frank. "This witchy stuff is bullshit anyways." Frank drank his and passed it to Reyna. She looked at Annabeth's sparkling eyes and drank the tea. It was bitter and—like Percy said—tasted like dirt. But Annabeth was drinking it, so how bad for her could it be?

"Alright, let's do this," Annabeth said. "Hazel, what were the instructions again?"

"I put the planchette on the board and we all have to put our hands on the planchette ," she said, holding up a small triangle with a hole in the middle. She placed it at the bottom which read Goodbye in pretty letters.

"Right. Everyone put your hand on the planchette." They all leaned in to touch the talisman. It was smooth and warm from Hazel’s hands. Reyna’s hand was next to Frank’s and Annabeth's. They were very different from each other; Frank's hand was soft and clammy, while Annabeth's was bony and dry. Frank was pressing down on the planchette far far too hard while Annabeth was relaxed. Reyna felt like she was somewhere in the middle; she was incredibly scared of the woods at night, but a seance didn’t bother her. They were always fake.

"Now we ask if anyone is there," Hazel continued.

"Is anyone out there?" Annabeth shouted up to the bright moon. There was silence from the surrounding forest, but a small scraping sound came from the board and they all felt a shift in their bodies. The planchette moved to _YES._

"It moved!" Frank screamed, almost pulling away, but Leo and Reyna held him in place by pressing into him. Reyna was admittedly intrigued. She knew that she wasn’t moving it, so who was?

"Who's doing this?” Piper asked the board. “Is it Leo?"

The chip on the board moved to _NO._

"Do any of us know you?" Annabeth asked calmly. The planchette moved their hands back and forth between _YES_ and _NO._

"That doesn't make any sense," Jason complained.

"Maybe we only know them by name or by reputation or something," Hazel suggested. They all _oohed_ and _ahhed._

"Maybe it's one of the Castellans," Leo added. They all started to giggle with excitement. The Castellans were the most popular Agesander story, easily the most exciting thing to have happened in town. Later on, Annabeth's disappearance would be the popular story that the local kids would be fascinated with, and they would cringe every time someone talked about the story with joy instead of horror. Then they would think about how they treated the tragic story of a double suicide like it was an intriguing fiction instead of a sad reality, and they would be overcome with guilt. But none of them knew that then, so the thought of talking to the dead mother and son duo filled them with a terrifying excitement.

"Which one of us knows you," Annabeth asked once the giggling died down. The planchette moved their hands to spell out _A N N A B E T H_.

"Me? From where?" Annabeth asked cautiously. _B I R T H._ Reyna heard her gasp softly and breathe faster and faster.

"What the hell?" Percy said. "That doesn't make sense." Annabeth didn't say anything. Reyna felt her tense up next to hers. She tried to nudge her arm to get her to move, but Annabeth was a rock. Her face was terrified, eyes the size of globes and mouth agape. The glee was gone and now she just looked scared. Everyone felt the change in atmosphere and suddenly the whole thing scared Reyna. The darkness held too many monsters and each crack of a twig or fall of a leaf was a creature, a creature that tore children limb from limb and sucked the marrow straight from their bones. The moon wouldn't be able to help them once it found them. All her fears of the cold woods came rushing back to her tenfold. She was shaking, desperate to leave, and everyone else looked equally uncomfortable. Except Annabeth. Annabeth was still. Annabeth would not let them leave.

"Who...are you?" Annabeth asked cautiously. The planchette moved them back and forth, from an _R_ to a _U_ to a _T_ to a—

"Hazel take your board," Annabeth snapped, ripping her hands off the chip and breaking the circle. Everyone else was relieved to finally be done with the seance. Reyna just wanted to go home and share candy with Nico and Hazel. Annabeth shoved the board towards Hazel and stood up. Hazel gingerly took it, when Nico started yelling

"It's still moving!" he screamed, his thin hand shaking with fear as he pointed it at the ouija board. "Look."

Everyone’s heads whipped around to Hazel. The planchette was indeed still moving, as if held up by some unseen force. It started to spell out a word and everyone started to scream. Any doubt they had earlier had dissipated and now they just felt terror.

"Take off the chip!" Piper cried. Hazel started attacking the chip with her fingernails, trying to pry it off, but it wouldn't budge from the board.

"I can't!" she cried. The planchette started to move from the _H_ to the _A_ to the _Z E L._

"Hazel what's going on?" Leo asked, crying and worried.

"I don't know!" The planchette went from a _U_ to the _C_ and then went on to _M E_.

"You...see...oh," Hazel said, suddenly relaxed. She looked up near Annabeth and smiled at her. "Yes. I do. I see you."

The planchette fell to the rock with a sharp clatter. It was silent for several minutes; even the forest noises had died down as if they sensed what had happened and wanted to give them their space. Hazel was still looking in Annabeth's direction, but not quite at her. Annabeth was rigid, every muscle taut and face alert. The spell was broken when Hazel began to laugh hysterically.

"We really got you guys!" she giggled, barely audible through her laughter. Everyone began to relax and slowly everybody began to laugh, Annabeth last. Leo was laughing the hardest, rolling on the ground and clutching the dirt. Once they realized it was a joke, their fear seemed hilarious. How could they have fallen for such a trick?

"So it was you all along?" Jason asks, brushing natural debris off his jeans and giggling.

Hazel nods. "Me and Annabeth planned with whole thing. Right Annabeth?"

Annabeth still looked nervous, but she smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I...I rigged the board. Used some super strong magnets. You guys were super funny."

They laugh. They go home. They don't think about it. If Reyna looked closer at Annabeth she would've seen that her fists were clenched as she spoke, would've seen the look she shared with Hazel. The kind of look that people share when they agree to keep something a secret or when they get away with something. But she did not look closer and by the time she got home she was so convinced that it had been faked that she saw no point in looking any closer.

* * *

_July 24, 2015, 4:45 a.m._

The Agesander Forest Preserve both terrified and fascinated Reyna; it always had. During the day it was welcoming. The trees were thick and tall, like soldiers guarding the little children that hid in the grass. The dirt was warm and a rich brown. Reyna would bury her toes into it as a child and wiggle her feet to feel the grainy, soft earth between them. Flowers and moss bloomed everywhere and made the woods look like a painting of a forest instead of a real one. Agesander didn’t have many tourists, but the few that came always wanted to walk through the lush woods. Nothing was safer than being protected by the trees. At night, however, everything shriveled. Without the light of day, the bark looked like the wrinkled skin of a witch, and the trees looked ready to grab and consume you. The dirt became filled with poisonous spiders and ants that would bite into your flesh until you had red bumps all over. The plantlife, the same plants that made for perfect pictures and laughing children, seemed to have eyes. The moonlight made them glow until they were real, glistening human eyes that tracked your every move. The animals made terrible noises—crunching and snapping and hideous growls. When she was younger, Reyna only wanted to go out into the woods during the day. As soon as the sun was about to set, she’d run. Annabeth would try to tell her that there was nothing to be scared of, but Reyna feared the dark woods. Occasionally she would go with her friends, but even then she hated it. As an adult, the woods remind her of home. The fear she has is the same fear she had as a child, and it’s familiar. She doesn’t like to be afraid, but she’s desperate for something that feels normal. If it’s fear that makes home feel more like home, then she just sticks it out.

"When you said that we would meet up at 6 am, I assumed you meant 6 am and not 4," Leo yawns, lazily waving his flashlight around and barely following the light with his eyes.

He and the others were reluctantly dragged out of their beds by Piper and Reyna and whisked off to the forest a few minutes ago, and he was the least happy about it, partly because Piper threw stones at his window to wake him up, but mostly because of the time. He hasn’t brushed his hair or his teeth, so his curls are flat on one side and Reyna avoids getting in the range of his breath. She was vigilant as a hunting dog the moment she woke up, so she’s far more energetic, overturning rocks and shining her flashlight up into the lower branches of the looming oak trees. Everything looks like a sign to her, from the scratches in the bark that remind her of an A to the rhythm of animal footsteps that sound like Annabeth’s favorite song. Everyone else is tired except Piper. While Nico trudges through the forest, Piper runs and leaps over obstacles. Reyna’s thankful that she has a similar spirit. She would never admit it, but being the only one so intense about this would’ve embarrassed her.

Her ears are aware of the slightest of sounds and her eyes are peeled. She had almost crawled on her hands and knees to look for anything that could help them, but she decided against it.   
  
"We don't want anyone seeing us," Hazel says to Leo as she looks at an unusually large rock with interest. "We're not organized enough to come up with a good lie if someone asks questions."  
  
"And Percy and I need to be up early so we can have breakfast with Leela and Edie," Piper adds. "It's important for family bonding or whatever. So I have to come out earlier so I have time to look and still be home in time for breakfast."  
  
"And even in my twenties my grandmother will get worried if I’m out without a reason, so I had to sneak out,” Frank says. He’s more optimistic than the rest, but his eyes are still heavy with sleep.

"If it means anything, I voted to sleep in, but Reyna threatened to pour ice water down my pants," Nico says, tripping over a fallen tree in his lapse of concentration.

“No I didn’t.”

“My pants are wet for a reason, Reyna.”   
  
"Where are we supposed to look first?" Frank asks in exasperation, hitting his flashlight after it temporarily stops working. It flashes, then bursts into a dim glow. "The woods are huge, there's no way we can look everywhere."  
  
"Don't be so pessimistic,” says Hazel. She’s back to her usual sunny self, but Reyna still feels awkward around her after last night. Her suspicions about Hazel hiding something were obviously confirmed, but she has no idea what she was hiding and she feels like it was big. After years of sharing everything with her siblings, being in the dark made her feel lonely and abandoned. Hazel has never been so puzzling before, and her newfound mysterious persona bothers Reyna immensely.

_You see a lot of things that you don’t tell me about._

_Yes._

“We can figure this out,” Hazel continues. “Reyna, you have the journal with you right?" Hazel asks her. Her golden eyes feel closed-off instead of warm. They are strange eyes.

“Yes.”

“Then why don’t you and Leo look through it to see where we should start?” she suggests. Reyna subtly shakes her head no. Leo, on the other hand, hardly ever hides his feelings. After yesterday, his attitude towards Reyna has gone from neutral to flat-out hostile. Reyna isn't surprised, of course, but she’s tired of hearing him complain about her.

“I don’t want to do that,” he says. “This one doesn’t like me.” He shines his flashlight directly into Reyna’s face as he says that, temporarily blinding her and making her see spots when her vision returns.

“Well you are good at figuring things out Mr. MIT graduate,” Hazel says, “and nobody knows Annabeth Chase better than Reyna di Angelo. So work it out. The rest of us have nothing better to do but wait.” With that, she spins on her heels and goes over to sit on the rock she was admiring earlier. She leans on it until she’s lying flat on its top and pulls out her phone. How she could be comfortable on a rock, Reyna doesn’t understand. But it’s a clear indication that there’s no room for discussion. 

Leo turns to her with unmasked annoyance. “Well, shit.”

“Shut up, Leo, let’s just figure this out.” She takes the journal out of her backpack and hands it to him. He snatches it out of her hands and starts to flip through it. Reyna’s a little nervous that he’ll tear it apart, but he looks through the book lovingly and touches each page as if it were a small child.

“She was so bad drawing people,” he chuckles. “I asked her why she kept doing it and she just said ‘Because I have to get better.’ So she kept doing them. She was getting better, actually.” When he gets to the page that Reyna remembers has a drawing of him, he slams the book shut and starts angrily wiping tears from his eyes, rubbing so hard that his skin turns red.

"Do you really want to know why I'm so mad about you bringing Annabeth up again?” he asks her suddenly. “You want to know why I could kick your teeth in for making us look for her again?"  
  
"No, but I'd watch my mouth if I were you."  
  
"Fair enough," Leo laughs, still trying to get the tears off of his face. "Remember when my dad left my mom and I?"  
  
"No," Reyna says. She remembers Leo's mom. She remembers how she had all her son’s features with none of his malice and how Reyna had wondered how such a sweet woman could raise Leo Valdez. But she tries to picture Leo's dad and she comes up empty headed. She never even realized his dad was ever in the picture.  
  
"Right, right, you weren't here in Agesander yet. Well anyways, my grieving process went like this: I cried for two weeks straight, I started yelling at God for letting him leave us, I tried to run away from home to find him, and then one day I just stopped. I stopped feeling bad. I got all my anger out and after that, I was fine. Sure I had a few unresolved issues but I could keep them down. Now I don't think about him, so I don't get sad about him.  
  
Now if I were like you—a masochist, that is—I would've tortured myself every day thinking about him. I never would've moved on, I never would've gotten any better. And I would still cry over that asshole for no reason other than to make myself miserable. "  
  
"You don't know me that well," Reyna says defensively, taking the journal out of his grip. "I was fine in Chicago. I thought about her, but I wasn't miserable. I had friends and a life and my sister."  
  
"And you left it all behind because you thought you had a chance to find Annabeth. Classic masochist, always throwing away good things to get hurt. It's not good for you, Reyna. You should be more like me."  
  
"You mean I should ignore all my problems and cross my fingers that they'll go away?"

"I mean you should learn a thing or two about self-preservation. Example: a few days ago I got a letter from my dad. He wants to see me, left an address and a photo and everything. But because I am not like you and therefore not a masochist, I'm not going to go see him. Because I've gotten over him already and I don't want to bring all that pain back. So I tore up the letter and now I never have to think about him again."  
  
"But don't you think that talking to your dad could help you? Wouldn't it make you feel better to know why he left?"

Leo starts laughing so hard that he actually doubles over, head almost between his legs and his hands clutching at his stomach. It’s a sad kind of laughter, and Reyna decides that she likes his hostility better.   
  
"You obviously didn't have an absent father,” he says once he’s standing up, traces of bitter laughter still dancing in his tone. “No Reyna, that would not make me feel any better. It doesn't matter why he left, it matters that he did. And I've accepted that. I used to think 'Hey wouldn't it be cool to see dad and ask him why he abandoned me?' but why torture yourself? It's better not to think about it."  
  
"Sounds like repression to me."  
  
Leo shrugs, shoulders almost touching his chin. "Maybe so. But I feel pretty good, so it's probably the better path to be on. I mean, think about it: I haven’t cried about Annabeth in eight years and now I can still feel dried tears on my face because I looked at her crappy drawing of me.”  
  
"Why are you telling me all this personal stuff about your life? I thought you hated me."  
  
"Correction: _You_ hate _me_. I'm super pissed at you at the moment and I would fight you if you weren’t so much stronger than me, but I don't _hate_ you. Never did, even though you coming to town messed up the whole group dynamic, in my opinion. You were the one who had the issue with me."  
  
"Are you trying to make me feel bad about it?" Reyna asks with genuine curiosity.  
  
"No. But I am trying to make you feel bad about the Annabeth stuff. I'm literally begging you to let it go."  
  
"I won't."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"It's important to me."  
  
"What about the rest of us? Hazel thinks it's a bad idea, even though she's still helping you out of family loyalty or whatever. Frank already has the stress of going back to school. Nico—actually he's probably down for anything so I guess he's on your side for this one. And Piper, God. Piper. Piper's a mom now. She has two children that she's responsible for. I remember what she was like when we're kids, she can't do that now. When you have kids to take care of, you can't sit in your room for days because you're too depressed to move. Or have panic attacks during house parties because the music was too loud. Or flush your medications down the toilet because you're tired of taking them. Parents who do that get their kids taken away, Reyna. Child services could legally take Leela and Edie to another family. They're already keeping an eye on her because of her borderline personality disorder—this is triggering a lot of mood swings, by the way. Sure, Sally can watch them, but she's getting older. She can't keep up with kids as well as she used to. And when Percy finds out about all this, he'll be in almost the same place as Piper, so she won’t be able to watch them.  
  
I'm Leela and Edie's godfather. I care about those kids and I care about my friend. I'm worried that her PTSD will act up again and I’m worried that that will affect her BPD and I'm worried about how her kids will react. But I am worried about you, Reyna. You have it, too—PTSD, that is. All of us do. After Annabeth and the Incident, how could we not? I remember all your paranoia, all your fidgeting and outbursts. I remember you thinking that you saw Her in your house or that time when you thought you heard Annabeth screaming from the river and you totally freaked out and nearly drowned trying to get to her. This time your paranoia turned out to be justified, true, but the next time it might not. You're not at the same level you were when we were young, but you could fall off the wagon completely and spend your whole rest of your life here because of a teenage girl's histrionics. Do you really want that?"  
  
Reyna freezes. She’s never heard this version of Leo before, this perceptive Leo. She feels like he’s cut her open and is loudly describing her viscera so she can hear him.  "I'm sorry. You could be right. You probably are. But I can't stop, Leo, I can't. I have to do this. You don't have to do this and I won't force anyone, but I have to make sure."  
  
"If you're in, nobody's going to stop and you know that." She knows. She knows and she feels terrible but she can’t stop, and he knows it.  
  
"I'm sorry," she repeats sincerely.  
  
"Reyna, a masochist is one thing," Leo says, shaking his head and looking more disappointed in her than anyone else has ever been, "but I never pegged you as sadistic." Reyna flinches, but she hopes that it’s slight enough that Leo doesn’t see it. She always had sort of a one-track mind, that’s no secret. But she never wanted her issues to affect anybody else. She always figured that even if she hurt herself, at least nobody else was harmed. Leo cracks that fantasy with just a look and a sentence and she feels the shard of it bury into her abdomen.

"I don't enjoy this any more than you do,” Reyna says, masking her hurt. “I just want to get better, Leo. I do. I know this doesn't make sense to you but I need this."  
  
"Fine," he says. "But when we don't find anything—which we won't—you have to give this up. For everyone's sake."  
  
"How do you know for sure that we won't find anything? If Frank was right and she committed suicide, there could be a note. How do you know we won't find it? Or maybe there’s another secret journal. There could be a bunch of bones for all we know."  
  
"It's just not realistic. If this were any other situation you would realize that it's not realistic but once Annabeth gets involved your mind goes to shit."  
  
"Maybe so, but I’ve repressed enough bad memories to know that it gets tiring after too long. I hope you figure that out eventually."  
  
“The day I take mental health advice from you or anyone else in this group is the day the devil starts going to church, but thanks for the tidbit.”

“Well Hazel told us to figure something out and I don’t feel like messing with her today,” Reyna says, “so let’s at least try to find something.”

“Oh I already figured it out,” Leo says with a smug grin. “It’s the Jump. She mentioned it, like, a bajillion times in the last entry. If there’s anything to find, it’s there. The message was obviously for us, so this was probably just another part for us to figure out."

“Why didn’t you say this sooner?”

“Because I wanted to talk to you. But clearly you’re not going to listen to a word I say, so whatever. Let’s tell Warden di Angelo that we’ve cracked the case. I’ll even give you partial credit.”

He leaves her to go tell Hazel, trotting jaunty and relaxed, although Reyna has no idea why. She doesn’t follow him. She stands very still and simply looks at the ground, the cool breeze returning to her. It raises goosebumps on her skin and she rubs her arm to warm them. She looks up at the trees above her and they look her dead in the eyes.

“To the suicide hotspot we go,” she whispers to the forest itself. It answers with a another gust of wind, colder this time, and stronger.

“I missed this place,” she says to herself, and then she joins the rest.

* * *

 

The Jump looks surprisingly different. It had always been a popular spot, so it wasn’t unusual to see empty soda cans or chips bags or whatever people left behind, but now it’s almost trashy. Reyna thinks she could fill up three six packs with the beer cans littering the rocks, and there’s a faint stench of spoiled food. The once-clean rocks are covered in tags and random writing like _Spring Break 2012 BITCHES_ or _Ray/Sylvia 5Ever_ with the last word crossed out and replaced with _lmao we broke up :/_ and a crude drawing of a middle finger. The patches of grass have been stepped on so many times that the grass has grown flat and turned brown. It makes Reyna sad to see one of her favorite places in such a terrible condition, but the view makes her feel better. The sun isn’t quite up yet, but she can still see the horizon as clearly as she could all those years ago. _People may fail you, but nature never changes,_ Reyna muses.

“We’re here,” Leo says, plopping down on a rock. “What now?”

“Now we just look around,” Nico says. “Just wave the flashlights around and stuff.”

“Leo and Frank and I can look by the forest,” Piper says, pointing to the short trees that line the clearance. “Reyna, Hazel, Nico, you guys go towards the edge.”

“I can't believe not one of you has said, ‘Let's split, gang,’” Leo jokes. “I have to do everything myself. Let's split, gang.”

Reyna walks towards the edge and looks down. She can barely see the river because of the dark, and her small flashlight doesn't do much to help, but the crash of the water slamming against the sharp rocks of the cliff is still comforting. She imagines that the water is pitch black but with foamy ridges as white as a cloud on a spring day. Hazel used to take photographs of the water when they were younger, and Reyna liked to look at them. She wonders what she did with them all. She also briefly wonders how far down the water is. As far as Reyna knows, nobody's ever measured the height of the Jump. It looks like a long way down. You'd die as soon as you hit the water, no doubt about it. Hitting the water at this height would be like hitting solid concrete.

_Did you die like that,_ _Annabeth?_ Reyna thinks. _Did you go over the Jump and smash your head? Did you hit the rocks? Did you drown? Did you jump or did you fall? What happened to you?_

“Don't stand so close,” Hazel warns from behind her, making her lose her train of thought. “It's dark. You could fall over.” Reyna nods and backs away from the edge.

“We should be careful,” she continues. “We can't have anyone falling off.”

“Relax, Hazel,” Nico says. “We used to run along the edge for shits and giggles. Remember when I jumped off on a dare and I was holding on to the rocks with three fingers?”

“You could've died.”

“It was so worth it.”

“It was terrifying,” Hazel insists, “and this is different. I have a bad feeling, like something bad is gonna happen. I'm probably just jumpy and tired but I really don't want you guys too close to that edge.” Nico shrugs but stops arguing. He steps away from the edge and starts to look in the other direction.

“You guys, there's something shiny over here,” Frank yells from near the trees. “Looks like jewelry.”

“We’ll keep looking over here,” Nico shouts back, and they do just that until Piper screams. The scream is louder than anything Reyna has ever heard before; it pierces her eardrums and sounds straight out of a horror movie. Reyna covers her ears but she still hears a faint ringing when she's done. Piper rushes over to the edge in record time and throws up, sending thick chunks down into the river, occasionally hitting the rocks and making them slick and colorful. The scream might have been horror flick worthy, but this is not a special effect.

"Piper, what's wrong?" Hazel asks her as she pats her back and rubs her arms. Piper's even more hysterical than the day before; she vomits again and again, poisoning the little grass there is and soaking her clothes. Her hands are covered in the stuff and they start to smell. She rocks herself back and forth and cries inbetween puking.

"An arm," she finally spits out, bile dribbling from her lips and down her long neck. "Somebody’s arm is over there." Nico starts to laugh.

_“I’m not joking!”_ Piper shouts, throwing a nearby rock at Nico, which he dodges. Reyna hears it hit the water below. “There’s a severed arm and it’s half rotten and I feel like cutting my fucking eyes out!” Nico’s still laughing, almost to the point of tears, and Hazel has to pull him aside so he doesn’t accidentally fall off the cliff. Reyna refuses to believe Piper, so she slowly gets up and walks over to where Frank and Leo are hovered over something. With each step she feels sicker and sicker and she realizes that the rotting smell she noticed when she arrived at the Jump is not food. When she’s close to the arm, she doesn’t know what to think. She feels like she’s lucid dreaming, like she’s watching a movie. Frank and Leo part when they see her. Frank looks stricken and his face is pale. He wanders off somewhere with his head in his hands. Leo stays next to her, silent.

The arm belongs to a human, at least it used to. Whoever it belonged to was olive skinned, dark haired, skinny and, given the length of the limb, not very tall. It's half rotted and Reyna hopes that whoever it belonged to was dead already. The dappled white of the bone shows through the flesh, stained deep with blood. The flesh itself is a brownish grey and the skin that covers it is nearly black. Clumps of white maggots crawl through the viscera and make it look like the arm is alive. Now that she’s close, she decides that the smell is far worse than the way it looks. When she was younger and lived with her sister and father, a cat once crawled into their ventilation system and died there. Hylla got rid of it before Reyna could see, but she still smelled it once the body was gone. It left a faint odor of death in their house for a week afterwards. This is far worse, like spoiled milk and the dead cat all covered in a thick coat of blood. Piper wasn't wrong in throwing up. It takes all of Reyna’s willpower to not puke herself.

"Oh my God," Piper keeps saying to herself from where she sits by the edge, as far away from the arm as possible. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. I'm never eating meat again."  
  
"How do we get rid of it?" Frank asks. "I want to burn it. I can't even look at it anymore. This is so gross, this is so fucking gross."

“Honestly,” Nico says, still laughing hysterically, “this is just too funny. We kept talking about not finding anything and now here we are! Standing right at a crime scene!”  His laughter gets louder and louder until he starts to choke on it. Hazel pats his back as he coughs it out.  
  
"Calm down, you guys," Hazel says, but she's ignored. Piper's still frantically wiping puke off her face and Frank is pacing and muttering to himself and Leo has moved to sit by the edge with his head between his knees and Nico is staring at the arm in disbelief and Reyna is just standing and watching all of them because even when she told Leo that they could find a bunch of bones, she never thought they would find anything like this. _Nico’s right,_ she says to herself. _This is almost funny._

“When you ask someone to lend you a hand and they take you too seriously,” Leo mutters humorlessly, head still down.

“Shut up,” Frank says.

“I should take this down to the electronics store,” he continues. “They said the latest iPhone would cost an arm and a leg so at least I'm halfway there.” Nico starts to laugh again.

“Leo I will physically harm you.”

“Both of you need to calm down,” Hazel says. “It's okay, you guys.” It unnerves Reyna how well she handles this. She doesn't even seem bothered by a decaying severed arm. She looks as relaxed as ever; she doesn't even turn into the stern, controlling woman that she tends to morph into in these kinds of situations.

“ _Okay?_ How on earth could this possibly be okay?” Piper cries, wringing her shirt to squeeze out some of the puke. “This is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen! I want this thing out of my fucking sight!”

“Piper’s right,” Frank says. “We should leave right now. We can't be connected to this.”

“What's that,” Nico says as he points to the arm. Reyna’s the closest one to it, but she’s still a good distance away. Nobody wants to step closer and see what he's talking about, and eventually Hazel sighs and trudges forward. She moves past Reyna and leans in over the arm like it doesn't bother her at all to squint at the area Nico pointed at.

“It's a bracelet,” she says, reaching out to take the silver chain off of the arm.

“Don't touch that!” Frank warns. “You're getting your fingerprints all over a potential crime scene!” Hazel ignores him and removes the bracelet from the rotted wrist. Strings of flesh and a few veins stick to the bracelet and Hazel separates them with her fingers. Piper spits up more bile at the sight but Hazel doesn't care that her fingers are coated with the slime of human remains.

“This looks so familiar,” she says as she runs the sticky bracelet through her fingers. From her distance Reyna can see a large heart-shaped charm and she immediately recognizes it.

“That's Annabeth’s,” she says. “I remember it. Piper gave it to her for her 13th birthday and she never took it off.” Piper shakily gets up to look at it herself and cringes getting so close to the arm.

“She's right. I remember giving it to her. Her dad said I should have it when she disappeared but he couldn't find it. Oh my God.”

“Are we supposed to believe that this is Annabeth’s arm?” Nico says. Reyna gets a mental image of Annabeth being ripped apart by an unseen force, a cracking sound from the dislocated bone and a slick, wet tearing sound when the skin is torn. Blood splatters in her mind and she feels sick to her stomach.

"Okay," Reyna says, talking out loud to try to calm herself down but still miles away from being relaxed. "Okay. Thinking cap time. Let's think through this. On the bright side Nico, this can't have anything to do with Annabeth because if it were Annabeth's body it would've decomposed completely by now. So this is just a random coincidence! A terrifying, traumatizing coincidence, but a coincidence nonetheless!"   
  
“You're right about this not being Annabeth,” Hazel says, “but this is not a coincidence.”

“What?” Reyna’s jaw tightens and Leo’s head snaps up.

“Look at the surrounding area,” Hazel says as she points to the patches of grass around the arm. “There's no blood, no gore. If it had been here for a long time, then the blood would've soaked through and stained the grass. But the grass near the arm is just as green as the rest of the grass. This was put here recently. Very recently.” She wipes the gore from her fingers onto her jeans. “And it's too suspicious that we find this weird journal that leads us here and there's suddenly a body part with Annabeth's jewelry attached to it. This was planned by somebody.”

“But who?” Leo says as he walks closer to Hazel and peers at the arm with a new curiosity. “And how? We solved the thing just yesterday, less than 24 hours ago. Unless one of us told somebody—and I don't think anyone did because we’re all pretty good at keeping secrets by now—they would've had to be there when we decoded the journal.”

“So you're saying that one of us did this?” Frank says. The suspicion in his voice is clear, and it’s obvious where his mind is going. Although it doesn’t make sense to Reyna that Hazel would do such a thing, she starts to feel her old paranoia return to her.

“No,” Hazel says. “None of us did this!”

“How do you know? How are we supposed to know?”

“Because if one of us did this I would be able to feel it,” she sighs.

“How would you be able to do that?” Nico says, now on the verge of mania. “And you said right before they found the arm that you felt like something bad was going to happen. How would you know that unless you had something to do with it? What aren't you telling us, Hazel?”

_What else do you see?_

_Too much, Reyna. More than you think._

“Please don't do this,” Hazel pleads, gold eyes wide and sad. Not worried or scared, but sad and a little resigned, too. “Can't you just trust that I didn't do anything wrong and move on?”

“How am I supposed to trust you when you won't even answer the question?”

“Hazel if it's not bad, you should be able to tell us,” Reyna cuts in. Their conversation last night keeps replaying in her mind and she doesn’t know what to think of the arm or journal or Hazel, her dear, dear sister that she’d do anything for. What on earth could you possibly be hiding?

“Fine. Do you want the truth?” Hazel says. They all nod.

Hazel sets the bracelet on the grass and holds her hand out towards it, saying nothing to them. Reyna can see the muscles in her arm flex as she slowly clenches her fist, bringing tense fingers closer and closer to her palms. Beads of sweat form on her forehead and roll down her face to leave a wet trail. Her narrowed eyes never leave her target.

“Hazel what the h—” She cuts Leo off by holding up her free hand and he quiets.

The bracelet stirs, moving so slowly that Reyna almost thinks it was a trick of the light. But it rises up from the grass as if an invisible person were lifting it. Hazel’s hand moves up with the chain and Leo screams. Once it gets to three feet in the air, Frank faints. Reyna just stares at it and Hazel and back at the bracelet and back at her dear sister who she now has a million questions for—her sister that she must not have known very well after all these years.

The bracelet falls as soon as it rose and Hazel collapses immediately after. Her eyes close when she hits the ground. Reyna rushes over to her and starts shaking her to make sure she's conscious. Hazel is shaking ever so slightly and Reyna feels relief along with a sort of betrayal.

“I’m...n-not that good...at tha-that yet,” Hazel stammers. “B-but it’s…the most e-effective way…of telling p-p-people.” Her pupils are dialated to the point where the black swallows up the gold and she looks like some sort of demonic creature. Maybe she is.

“What are you?” Reyna whispers, so quiet that only Hazel can hear her.

“A witch, Rey,” she says. “I-I’m a witch.” Then she passes out.

* * *

 

“ _Witch_ is not a good term,” Hazel admits once they're home. Nico told Frank and Leo to dispose of the arm (he didn't want to know how) so it's just the di Angelo siblings and Piper surrounding Hazel in her room. Piper sits on the bed while Reyna and Nico kneel next to her on the floor. The room is golden: gold walls, gold carpet, gold bedspread, gold pillows and just about everything else. Her bed frame is a warm brown wood and her desk is the same, but everything else looks like it was kissed by King Midas. It used to make Reyna feel warm, but now it feels like a strange, foreign place and Hazel feels like a strange, foreign person. Light from the window trickles in through the blinds and illuminates Hazel’s face. She glows.

“Then what is a good term,” Piper asks from the edge of the bed. Hazel is comfortably lying under the covers, snug and sound. After she passed out, Reyna carried her back to the di Angelo house and Nico tucked her in. She slept for four hours until she groggily opened her eyes. Piper had to leave and come back after having breakfast with her daughters and Reyna and Nico spent the time freaking out about Hazel’s revelation in their rooms. Frank and Leo were still disposing the arm, but Reyna got a text from Frank saying that they were almost done a few minutes before. Reyna thinks they're purposefully keeping their distance and she can't blame them. If she didn’t love Hazel so much, she might’ve been avoiding her, too.

“A good term,” Hazel repeats. “I don't know. I don't know much about it, honestly. I know my mom was the same way and I know that her mom was very similar, so it must be hereditary. I know that I can feel when people I know have been somewhere or touched something. I know that if I concentrate really hard that I can levitate things, but no higher than three feet. I know that I’ve been talking to ghosts since I was three. I know that I can see vague images from various possible futures. But that's all I know. I have more powers that I haven't even explored yet. I went to New Orleans to try and find more about my mom’s side so I could talk to them about it, but none of them had a term better than _witch_.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” Nico asks, nearly heartbroken, voice cracking. He holds her hand close to his face. “Or Reyna, or Bianca?”

“I'm so sorry,” she says, weakly squeezing his fingers. “I wanted to. I did. But it's pretty unbelievable and I didn't want you guys to be afraid of me.”

“We would've understood if you explained,” Reyna says. Hazel looks at her and smiles, brushing back some of her long, dark hair.

“I didn't want to risk it,” Hazel says. “Besides, we already have so many secrets, I didn't want you guys to have another one.”

“Can you really talk to ghosts?” Piper asks. Her body language screams malice; she’s turned away from Hazel, arms crossed and head held high. Reyna can’t see her eyes and she’s glad. Nico looks at her and mouths _splitting_.

“Yes,” Hazel picks up on her anger, but doesn’t comment.

“Have you talked to Annabeth? Or seen her anywhere?”

“No. And I can't tell if she's dead or not. Normally I’d be able to, but there's some sort of blockage. I don't know why it's there or how to get rid of it, so I guess she could be alive. I'm almost positive she's dead, though.”

“When you said that you didn't see this ending well,” Reyna says, “you meant that literally.”

Hazel nods. “No future is set in stone, but every probable future I see ends with us getting hurt. The worst ones end up with us dying. But sometimes I don't get any images, just intense feelings. I was so worried that my bad feeling on the cliff would be worse than it was, that's why so was relieved that it was just an arm. I've seen way worse than that.”

“Seriously?”

“Some ghosts stay in the same form that they died in, and not everyone goes peacefully in their sleep. Some of them just like to fuck with people, so they do things like tear their heads off or start bleeding out of their pores if they know someone can see them. So a dead person’s arm is nothing to me.” Reyna imagines Hazel as child, seeing horrifying images of gore and death and not being able to talk about them.

“Could you tell whose arm it was?” Nico asks.

“Lee Fletcher. 47 years old. A Sagittarius. He used to bag my groceries at the supermarket. Died in a car accident just outside of town about a back and was buried here by his widow. Long dead when his arm was torn off.”

“Do you know who did it?” Reyna asks.

“I do, but I don't think it's right. It must be wrong,” Hazel says, brows furrowed.

“Why?”

“Well the person whose presence I felt couldn't have torn off an arm and put it at the Jump. It's impossible.”

“You're a witch,” Piper says. “Anything is possible.”

“This is highly unlikely, trust me.”

“What do you feel when you feel a person’s presence?” Reyna asks. “How do you know who is who?”

“It's like my senses go into hyperdrive,” she explains. “I start to smell and taste and hear and see and touch things that aren't there and they sort of mesh together to form one feeling that I can only describe using different experiences. The better I know someone, the easier it is to detect their presence. I can't tell two strangers apart because they all feel the same. My friends and family are very distinct and I can tell acquaintances apart if I put some effort into it. Nico is like being in a field of wheat while it's raining. Reyna, you're like climbing a pine tree when it's cool outside. Piper, you feel like burying my toes into super hot sand and then digging them up really quickly. Frank is like sitting next to a bonfire in the winter and Leo is like chewing hard candy and accidentally biting my tongue. Percy is diving headfirst into the ocean in summer and Jason is like what I think it would be like to fly into a rain cloud. Annabeth is sprinting through a meadow while every single flower is in bloom. I can feel you three right now, all at once. When Frank and Leo get back, I'll feel them. It's incredibly overwhelming, but I've mastered it. Now I can tell different people apart without breaking down.” Hazel starts to bite her lip and brings her hands to her face. Her eyes flick from Nico to Reyna to the back of Piper’s head to the ceiling. After moments of tense silence, she speaks again.

“The presence on the bracelet is familiar. It's not as strong as you guys but I've felt it before. It tastes like worms and smells like wet dirt. It's cold and damp and I can hear dull thuds of feet above me. I feel thick grains between my fingers and toes and in my eyes. All I can see is darkness. I can barely breathe. It's the feeling of being buried alive.” Hazel breathes in so deeply that her chest rises off the bed and exhales so quickly that she falls. “It's Gaea. I mean Gail. It's Gail Torres.”

The name changes the atmosphere immediately. Piper’s head turns so quickly that Reyna’s surprised her neck doesn’t snap. Her eyes turn wide and globe-like, on the verge of tears in just a few seconds. She starts to rub the smooth, wood bedpost. Nico and Reyna scramble away from the bed and stand up abruptly, Nico slamming his elbow on the nearby bedpost. It hits solid bones, but Nico doesn’t notice the pain. Reyna feels her heartbeat speed up to the point where she's sure everyone can hear it. The room goes from gold to grey to ash and Reyna feels dizzy, as if she were just struck in the face or went days without water. Everyone in the room shudders. They all spent years and years trying to avoid that name. Reyna sees visions of fire and screaming and a bathtub filled with black water.

“I know,” Hazel says, “I know. But I must be wrong. We all know why it can't be Gail. She's been in a coma for eleven years.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully i finish this n write the sequel so i can talk more about hazel's powers bc i love her
> 
> and please review! i really love this fic (i wrote 90% on a 5 hour long car drive bc i could not stop writing) and reviews really make my day. kudos are great but i love reviews. i really want to know what y'all think so please leave a comment! even if it's just a smiley face or smthn!


	7. sleeping beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reunion and a revelation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took so much longer to post than I expected but it's almost 15k so I hope that makes up for it

_June 9, 2003, 9:34 p.m._

  
Annabeth was a mess. No part of her face was left untouched. Her right eye was rimmed with violet and the blood vessels had popped in both of them, turning the whites pink. Her cheekbones were blue with a greenish-yellow tinge around the edges. That strong nose had deep scratches from blunt nails that were already looking infected. More bruises and cuts littered her body, especially her arms, but they were minor. A cracked collarbone and a sprained wrist completed the picture. But her knuckles were the worst of it. They were torn open and covered in coagulated blood. Thick brown clumps were sticky between her fingers and hard blackened scabs were starting to form. Annabeth was very fond of fighting in the schoolyard with the older boys, so it wasn't unusual for her to have some injuries, but this many at one time was extreme. Reyna was carefully cleaning her knuckles with rubbing alcohol and wrapping them with sterile gauze. Annabeth winced at the sting of the alcohol but was otherwise unbothered.

“What the hell happened?” Reyna asked as she wrapped the gauze around her hand. The added pressure seemed to hurt her, but she still looked oddly excited. Her gray eyes were buzzing under the swelling.

“So I was going to the city to go check out some movie times and go to that coffee shop I told you about,” Annabeth said, “when I see these kids just attacking each other. There were maybe ten or fifteen people around them just watching it all go down. And then one kid finally knocked the other out and people started cheering and handing each other money. So I went over to one guy and asked him what was going on and he said that they had a fight club. People volunteered to fight and the spectators would bet on them. Whoever won gets a quarter of the money and the rest is split evenly.

"So I stayed to watch the other fights. And I was just talking to Beckendorf—that's the guy who told me what was going on—when this one guy who's probably twice Frank’s size starts yelling at me for no reason. I guess he was really mad because he thought girls shouldn't fight or some other bullshit. First I ignored him because who cares right? But he just kept going and going on and on about how he could kick my ass and I said ‘Fine, fight me then.’ Of course everyone tells me not to do it because I’m young and I’m a girl and blah, blah, blah and Beckendorf actually holds me back at one point, but I can't just let him get away with it, so I get in the ring.

"There are no rules in the ring. The only rules are with handling the money, but people have been killed in the ring. Or they died from injuries they got in the ring. Or sore losers got mad and shot people in the ring. I don't know, I didn't care enough to pay attention. So we start fighting and I let him get a few hits in so he's confident, and then I just start running circles around him—literally running around in circles. I’m practically sprinting around this and he's super slow so he can't catch me. And then I run under his legs and kick him behind the knee and he falls over. Then I just got on top of him and started knocking him out. I won! Everybody put money on the other guy so there was no one to split the money with, so I got $200! After that I did three more fights and I won them all. $302 in one night. You should've been there, Rey, it was intense.”

“You have a death wish,” Reyna said. “I'm positive that you want to die.”

“I'm not dead,” she laughed.

“Why would you do that? What's the real reason?” Reyna asked. Annabeth rolled her eyes and started picking at her nail beds with her free hand to avoid Reyna’s eyes.

“Suzanna’s family is coming over in a few days. They're in law, I think. Defense attorneys, maybe. I didn't care. Anyways, they're very good at whatever it is they do. Very powerful people, very pretentious, very rich. From what I've gathered, they're pissed at Suzanna for marrying my dad and moving to a small town instead of marrying an equally rich guy and living in New York or something. She’s desperate to impress them and she knows they love children, so she's invited them over to show off her precious twin boys and her adorable step-daughter who she has a great relationship with and has not slapped right across the face on multiple occasions. She wants everything to be absolutely perfect.”

“So your plan is to show up all bloodied and bruised to horrify her family?”

“Ugly is power.”

“What if she...y’know…”

“Hits me? I don't care. It's worth it to humiliate her in front of her parents. Apparently they're even worse than she is, so they have to be the most judgemental people on the planet. It's so worth it. I’ll be all bruised up anyways.” Reyna searched Annabeth’s eyes for any sign of caution or fear, but she found none. She was set on this wild plan that could possibly kill her, and nobody could talk Annabeth out of something she set her mind to, not even Reyna.

“So when are they coming?”

“The day after tomorrow,” Annabeth said, “and I plan on having a broken nose and a blacker eye by the time they get here.”

“You're already covered in bruises.”

Annabeth laughs hard enough that her ribs start to ache and she clutches her side. “Then I’ll go and cover myself in more bruises. I need to be as messed up as possible.”

“How many fights are you planning to do.”

“As many as I need to do. Probably another four.”

“That's too many.”

“It's as many as I want to do.”

“I won't let you do four more fights. You're strong but you're not invincible. I'm coming with you.”

Annabeth grinned, showing off a few gray, dead teeth in her smile. “Good. I wanted you to come all along. I'm bringing everyone,” she said. “And if I were you, I’d try getting in the ring. Get your hands dirty, Miss di Angelo.”  
 

*

  
It was dark when they left for Richmond and there was no moon to protect them. The alley was between an abandoned school building and an active gym and it stank of alcohol, sweat, and blood. The dirty brick ground was sticky and dark in some places and Reyna avoided stepping in anything that looked too red. The walls that surrounded them weren’t tall, but they seemed to loom over everyone’s head and watch them, as if they were cheering on the fighters. There were dried blood splatters and remains of police tape on their surfaces. The only lighting was the stalk of an old streetlight that had been stolen and hooked up to a generator to work in the middle of an alley. People were cheering in the center of it all; there was a crowd with more people than the high school graduating class of Agesander. They yelled as if drunk on the violence, animals celebrating a slaughter and the coming of fresh meat. Despite this, Reyna wasn’t scared. The fighting ring was honestly as shady and dangerous as she had pictured it and before the di Angelos she had lived in a pretty sketchy neighborhood. The sound of skin knocking against skin and bruising the bone underneath reminded her of her childhood.

“You want to die,” Frank said to Annabeth, who paid him no attention. She was as animated as the rest of the crowd, standing on her tiptoes to get a better look at the fight.

“We should leave,” Jason whispered to Reyna, wrapped up in his preppy sweater vest and slacks and clearly not belonging there. “I don’t like the look of these people.”

“And leave Annabeth by herself?” she responded. “No way. She won’t leave, Jason. The best we can do is watch out for her and make sure she doesn’t get too hurt.”

“Well, I want to stay,” Piper said. “I’ve got a gift for this gambling stuff. I’m not leaving here without some money.” She pulled a rolled up wad of cash from her pocket, probably stolen from someone who would later discover a giant hole in the bottom of their bag. Leo high-fived her while Jason shook his head in disapproval. Reyna didn’t know why, he was no saint.

“The next fight’s starting soon,” Annabeth said when she was done watching the show. “People are volunteering to fight, so we have some time. It usually takes a while unless there’s some big drama that everyone wants to see resolved.”

“Are you going to go?” Hazel asked her, worry clear in her voice.

“Not this one. The next one,” Annabeth said.

“This is so cool,” Nico said. He bounces up and down on the balls of his feet and he can’t stop smiling at everything he sees. When Annabeth told him about the fighting, he was the first to volunteer to join her. “This is like that movie Dad wouldn’t let us see. That fighting one with Brad Pitt.”

“This will be even better,” Annabeth promised. “It’s real.” Reyna was worried, but she couldn’t but feel a little bit of anticipation. This was high-stakes and fast-paced and the way Annabeth talked about it made her feel like she was in an R-rated movie. She started to smile at Annabeth and her friend grinned back at her.

“Hey Lil’ Bit,” a guy said to Annabeth as he approached them. He had dark skin like Hazel and he was even taller than Frank with muscles the size of a watermelon, covered in tattoos that Reyna couldn’t see well in the dark. He smiled at Annabeth, and Reyna saw that he had three missing teeth. She immediately wondered if he’d lost them here.

“Hey Beckendorf,” Annabeth replied as she high-fived him. “This is the guy I told you about.” The man smiled at them and with a closer inspection, Reyna saw that some of his remaining teeth were cracked and broken. She knew Annabeth could take care of herself, but she felt her previous anticipation vanish at the sight of Beckendorf minor but permanent injuries. The thought of her friend cracking her skull on the hard ground or getting her teeth knocked out by a swift fist made her stomach churn with thick acid and dark thoughts.  
.  
“So these are you friends,” Beckendorf said with a deep bass voice. “We usually don’t get so many kids this young here.”

“My age didn’t stop me from having a four-time winning streak, now did it?” Annabeth teased. Beckendorf still looked a little concerned, but he brushed it off.

“Well if you guys are as good as your friend here, you’ll be fine,” he said. “So when are you going to get up there, Bit?”

“The next round, unless someone tries me again,” Annabeth replied. “I just want to watch everything go down for a sec.”

“Well there’s one kid who heard about you from the other day and wants to fight you,” Beckendorf said.

Annabeth’s jaw dropped. “What? Who?” she demanded sharply.

“Calm down, Bit, I don’t know who he is,” Beckendorf says with his hands up. “I just heard about some skinny blond kid who wanted to fight you specifically. Didn't catch his name. He was about your age, though, and he seemed to know you pretty well.”

Reyna groans and she hears all her friends to the same. The second Beckendorf mentioned a skinny blond kid, everyone’s mood dropped and they rolled their eyes. “Did this kid have a totally weird name?” Nico asked Beckendorf. Beckendorf nodded.

“Yeah. It was like something out of a history book. Ancient Rome, I think.”

“God damn it,” Annabeth swore. “How the hell did _Octavian_ know we were here?” She spit out his name like she couldn’t wait to get the word out of her mouth.

Octavian Elmer was the worst kind of person if you asked any kid in Agesander. His ancestors were a part of the group that founded the town and they carried that pretentiousness down for generations. He was a sickly child, pale and as thin as a reed, but his attitude made him seem much more intimidating to everyone but Reyna and her friends. He was rude, selfish, stuck-up and he hated Annabeth the moment he laid eyes on her as a toddler. They were constantly at each other’s throats and he hated anyone who associated with her, which was most people since she was fairly popular. They were academic rivals in school, athletic rivals on the playground, and mortal enemies everywhere else.

“He’s probably stalking us, the freak,” Percy said. “God, I hate that guy. What’s his deal, anyways?”

“He’s probably bitter that Annabeth woke up and drew breath today,” Leo joked, making the rest of them laugh and nod. It was said in jest, but knowing Octavian, he probably did wake up angry just because Annabeth was alive and on the same planet as him.

“So I take it you know this guy?” Beckendorf said. Annabeth nodded.

“So are you gonna fight him or what?” he continues, eagerly rubbing his hands together. Fighting rings thrived off of drama.

“You know what?” Annabeth said. “Where is he? I’ve changed my mind. I’m fighting in the next round.” Most of the group whooped and cheered as Beckendorf went off to find their nemesis.

The only person who didn’t want Annabeth to fight Octavian was Hazel. Her small body was shivering and her gold eyes were wide and wet. “This is a bad idea,” she whined. “Please Annabeth, just fight someone else.”

“No way,” Annabeth protested. “If Octavian wants to fight me, I’ll kick his ass. I’m, way stronger than him, what are you even worried about?”

“I just have a really bad feeling about this,” she said.

“Well get rid of it, because I’m fighting Octavian.”

Hazel sighed and muttered something along the lines of _Don’t say nobody warned you_ , but Annabeth was too busy searching the crowd for that familiar head of pale blond hair to notice her. The crowd was thick with tall, muscle-bound figures, so she couldn’t even see him until Beckendorf brought him over. Beckendorf towered over his small frame, the contrast between them making Octavian look even paler and more frail.

“Annabeth,” he said simply. His voice was high-pitched and childlike and his watery blue eyes made him look even younger.

“Octagon,” Annabeth replied with a grin, smiling harder when Octavian scowled. He hated it when people messed up his name, so Annabeth made it her mission to call him by every word starting with _octa,_ from _octopus_ to _octapeptide_. It drove him out of his mind.

“How’d you even know I came here?” Annabeth said, ignoring his anger. “Are you following me, freakshow?”

“More like you’re following me, you stalker,” Octavian said. “I’ve been coming here for weeks. You’re lucky you missed me or I would’ve knocked your ugly teeth right out.”

“Beckendorf didn’t even know who you were, so I’d guess that you’ve probably never fought here before,” Annabeth said, laughing at Octavian’s sudden blush. “Didn’t you hear that I won four fights? I don’t even know why you’d want to fight me. You can barely lift your own weight.”

“I can lift enough to fight you,” Octavian challenged.

“You absolutely can not.”

“Then why are you so scared to fight me?” Octavian taunted. “If I’m so weak, hit me right now, you bitch.”

Her smile dropped and she bared her teeth. If there were two things that Annabeth hated most in the world, they were people thinking that she was weak and being called a bitch by any man. She surged forward to deck him right then and there, but Beckendorf put his thick arm between her and Octavian while Percy and Frank held her back. “Keep your fighting in the ring,” Beckendorf warned. Annabeth shook her friend off her shoulders and stepped back.

“Fine,” she spat. “I’m not scared of you. Get in the ring Octahedron. I’ll go easy on you.”

She grabbed his wrist and wrestled through the massive bodies to pull him to the center of the crowd, pushing the two people who were about to fight out of the way. They looked like they were going to protest, but they were newbie fighters at best and seeing Annabeth’s bruises along with her ice cold glare, they backed down and scrambled back into the crowd. She threw Octavian down the the solid ground and he groaned when it hit his back. Everyone else started cheering. Unexpected violence was their favorite kind of violence. Some of them recognized Annabeth from her previous fights and started chanting in her favor. The idea of her taking down some wimpy looking kid who looked like he could barely swing a fist was delicious to them. The rest of Annabeth’s group went through the barely-there spaces between the crowd to push through to the front to watch the event.

“Come on, Octane,” Annabeth teased. “I thought you wanted to fuck with me!” She delivered a swift kick to his side while he was still down and he cried out. Anywhere else that would’ve been seen as dishonorable, but the crowd loved the energy.

“That’s a bad idea,” a voice behind Reyna said. She jumped at the noise, but recovered quickly when she recognized the person speaking.

“Jesus, Gaea, you scared the shit out of me,” Reyna said. Gaea—Gail, actually—laughed politely. Reyna wasn’t surprised that she was there. Gail Torres was Octavian’s shadow. She was a nice girl and had a fair amount of power from being the daughter of the current mayor, so why she chose to hang out with someone like Octavian was beyond Reyna. Her freckled olive skin was sweaty and shiny from being in the hot crowd for so long and her thick black curls were pulled back into a ponytail. Reyna could the the silhouette of that sharp hook of her nose in the glow of the streetlight and her green eyes reflected light. Reyna thought she was beautiful, but she’d never befriend her only because she was so close to Octavian.

“Sorry,” Gail said. “Didn’t mean to scare you. I just think this is a bad idea.” She rubbed the silver rose necklace that she always wore between her cold fingers. Leo had nicknamed her Gaea because she was so obsessed with plants, and the name stuck for years until Gail herself went by it.

“Me too,” Reyna agreed. “For Octavian, at least. You know he can’t take Annabeth. She’ll win by a landslide.”

“Oh no,” Gail said. “I meant for Annabeth. This won’t end well for her.”

“She’s way stronger than him.”

“True. But Octavian has a secret weapon. Can’t tell you what it is, though. But yikes, I feel bad for Chase.”

The cracking sound of bone breaking stopped Reyna from pressing further and they both quickly turned to the fight. Octavian was screaming on the ground, clutching his nose, while Annabeth stood above him. Blood splattered against her shirt and dripped down her hand, but it obviously wasn’t hers. Octavian started to cry as the cheers grew louder and louder. Blood strained between his fingers and poured out from his hand. Annabeth was grinning.

“This does not look good for you,” she said. “You’ve got a big mouth and no hands, Octave.” Octavian forced himself to stand up, wobbling as he moved. His feet seemed to move as if they were separate people and he was swaying back and forth.

“Try me,” he choked out, spitting some frothy blood as he spoke. Annabeth rolled her eyes and pantomimed a yawn to make the crowd laugh. He ran towards her and made a grab for her shoulders, but she was quick enough to jump out of the way and he fell forward. Gail winced and rubbed her necklace harder.

“I can’t believe you let him do this,” Reyna said to Gail. “Aren’t you always trying to keep him out of trouble?”

“Because when you try to keep Annabeth out of trouble that always works out in your favor, right?” Gail said, smirking at Reyna and raising an eyebrow. Reyna laughed despite herself and she thought about how she and Gail probably had more in common than they thought, and so did Annabeth and Octavian. They—meaning Reyna and Gail—could’ve been good friends under different circumstances.

“Touché.”

“I did try to talk him out of it, as I’m sure you tried to do with Annabeth, but he was just dead-set on fighting her. And once Octavian has his mind set on something—”

“Nobody can talk him out of it. Not even you.”

“Exactly,” Gail laughed. “But he wasn’t totally unprepared. Said he had something special for her.”

“Like what?”

“Can’t tell you. I want to, but I have to stay loyal to my friend, y’know. You wouldn’t tell me if Annabeth was hiding something from Octavian.” Reyna shrugged, knowing that she was right and not wanting to press any further.

Octavian was a madman at that point, swinging erratically and screaming at Annabeth. She artfully dodged all his punches, but didn’t strike back. She was playing with him. She could’ve easily knocked him out and been done wit it, but she was drawing it out to embarrass him. He tried to grab her face and she ducked down, kicking him in the knee once she was lowered. He fell again and slammed his head on the ground with a sick, sharp sound, but he still got up again.

“I told him that he was underestimating her,” Gail muttered. “But he never listens to me.” She closed her eyes when Annabeth tripped him again and he hit the floor. “Risky, risky, risky.”

Suddenly high-pitched scream broke through the air, but it wasn’t Octavian. Annabeth was on the ground, clutching her side and crying. Octavian stood proudly above her with a bloodied pocketknife in his hand. He could barely stand and Gail had to rush over to support him, but he was smiling as if he’d just won the lottery.

“That son of bitch stabbed me!” Annabeth screamed. She was lying on her side and trying to support herself with her elbow. Her left side was dripping with blood and her shirt was soaked with it. Her blood mingled with the blood of the previous fight and stained the dirt. Reyna quickly ran over to her to help her get up and she let out a scream when she was moved. Octavian laughed.

“I win,” he stated, and the crowd booed. All of them bet their money on Annabeth and it was no fun to see someone get stabbed; knives were too risky and they ended fights too quickly. But there were no rules against it and Octavian won his money fair and square. Percy helped Reyna drag Annabeth outside the ring and together they laid her gently on the ground near the school wall. Reyna saw Gail look back at them and nod to Reyna. Her expression was passive, but Reyna knew that she knew Octavian had the knife. That was the secret he said she wouldn’t tell her. _Friends?_ Reyna thought. _We won’t even talk next time._

“Shit, that knife went deep,” Annabeth swore through clenched teeth. Hazel, who was eerily prepared for everything, had brought a first-aid kit. She popped open the white box and pulled out some medical tape. She shooed Reyna and Percy away and wrapped up the wound. Reyna couldn’t see the exposed injury and she was glad.

“I should’ve listened to you, Hazel,” Annabeth said. “I was being too proud. I don’t know how you knew what would happen, but you did.”

“I didn’t know _exactly_ what would happen,” Hazel said, still wrapping and applying pressure. “But yes, I did have an idea and I did warn you. You’ll need a doctor, Annabeth.”

“I’m not going to the doctor,” Annabeth protested. “Too many questions. I need someone else.”

“My brother’s back in town,” Jason offered with a raised hand. “Apollo. He went to medical school. I promise he won’t tell anyone what happened.”

“Excellent. I have something on him, anyways,” Annabeth said. “Just help me get on the bus without attracting attention.” Frank leaned down to pick her up bridal style and carry her out of the alley in his arms, leaving the blood and the cheering behind them.

“Want me to kill Octavian for you?” Percy asked. Annabeth laughed, then grit her teeth because it hurt her side too much.

“No. I’ve got plans for him,” she said. “Let’s just go home.”

Two days later, the computers at school suddenly crashed. The teachers were entering the grades for the final quarter when they all went black. No important files were harmed and most people’s grades were left untouched, but all the grades of Octavian Elmer and Gail Torres were changed. They went from a mix of A’s and B’s to straight F’s. They both failed the entire year, and Octavian was taken out of the Honor Society.

“I told you I had a better plan than just kicking their asses,” Annabeth said while she and Reyna sat down at Stoll’s to eat some ice cream. She licked her vanilla cone with confidence.

“How’d you even do that?” Reyna said as she ate some of her chocolate cream from her small bowl.

  
“I guess I’m just a mystery, Rey,” Annabeth laughed. The vanilla ice cream dripped down her fingers and reminded Reyna of the blood.

_*_

_J_ _uly 26, 2015, 12:37 p.m._

  
Piper and Percy have the best house, in Reyna’s opinion. It's not grand like her own home, but it has an understated charm. It looks like the houses that Reyna would see in American television shows as a child, a neat brick structure built in a small cube with a garage jutting out. The roof—which Reyna knows very well due to Nico’s tendency to walk on it and her tendency to try and stop him—is no longer as shiny as it was when she was younger, and the rain has eaten away at the brown edges, making them black. The windows are dirty with age and small handprints that probably form as quickly as they are wiped off. It’s not spectacular, but there are little things about it that Reyna likes: the yellow roses that rest in crudely painted pots on the windowsill, the smiley face stickers stuck on the faded wood of the door, the chalk drawings on the road leading to the garage. Percy is long grown, but the children make the house look like it did when he was young. Sally, his mother, probably loves having kids around again.

Sally herself is in the garden in the backyard. It's famous in Agesander for being the best in town; nearly every flower that is possible to grow in Virginia can be found in Sally’s garden. She tends to a patch of yellow roses identical to the ones on the windowsill. She's hunched over the delicate flowers and her blue jeans are covered in dirt, but she seems so carefree that Reyna has the urge to pick up a shovel and help her.

“Hi, Ms. Jackson,” Nico says from next to her. Sally looks up at them, blue eyes bright, but never frightening.

“Nico? Nico di Angelo, is that you?” she laughs, standing up. She brushes dirt off her pants, which doesn't help, but Nico doesn't complain about her muddy clothes when she hugs him. He returns to hug with equal enthusiasm.

“And Reyna? Oh it's been so long!” Sally pulls her down to her height and wraps her arms around her neck. It almost choked Reyna, but she hugs her anyways. When she pulls back, she sees Sally’s ultra-white smile. She has a few more wrinkles and the bags under her eyes are heavier, but she doesn't look that much older. Her eyes keep her young; they burn with an intense vitality and joy that lights up everyone around her.

“And Hazel! How are you, sweetie?” she pulls Hazel close and they both grin.

“I'm great,” Hazel says. “Better now that the gang’s back together. And I found that banana bread recipe Persephone always uses. She'll totally kill me if she knows I shared it, but I think you two could get together and make it even better.”

“Oh Hazel, I'd love that. Thank you so much, we’ll talk about that later. I know Percy is really excited to see you guys again, so I don't want to keep you three waiting. But please feel free to come back any time. I love having you three around.” Sally bends down and plucks a few flowers from her garden. She gives Reyna a bright marigold, Hazel a pretty violet, and Nico a soft pink geranium. Reyna holds the delicate flower in her palm, admiring its petals.

“You guys go on in,” Sally says, already returning to her roses. “I'll be out here if you need me. Oh, and tell Piper that Silena’s been having trouble babysitting Edie. I keep forgetting to mention it.” Reyna agrees to tell her and they go inside.

The inside of the house is also not as glamorous as the di Angelo manor, but it's cozy. The once white living room walls have faded to beige and are covered in old and new crayon drawings. One is a picture of figures that can only be Piper and Percy holding hands with a little girl and a baby, and it makes Reyna smile. The old red leather couch that she used to jump on is dirtier than it used to be and the wood floor has more cracks in it, but it just makes the room look comfortable and lived in instead of trashy. Piper, Leo, Frank, and Percy are already there, with the last two choosing to sit on the floor and the first holding an infant. The room is lively with conversation and laughter when Reyna and her siblings walk in.

“Hey you guys,” Hazel says as she waves at them. Everyone waves back and smiles, save Piper. Her smile drops and she turns away from Hazel to look at the floor. Hazel notices but doesn’t change her expression or her demeanor, but she sits next to Leo instead of Piper to give her space. Since her revelation, Piper has been avoiding her as if she carries some sort of dangerous disease. Hazel doesn’t seem to blame her, but Reyna knows it has to hurt to have someone you care about be so angry with you. Reyna sits on the couch next to Piper. She looks at the baby she’s holding, who must be her niece, Edie. She’s an adorable baby with fine black hair, wide brown eyes, and skin just a few shades lighter than Piper’s. Reyna can see the resemblance between her and the infamous Drew McLean. Nico sits on the floor between Frank and Percy, who offers him and the other di Angelo siblings an orange soda.

“No alcohol when the kids are in the house,” Percy explains when he looks at Nico’s disgusted expression. “Leo’s been drinking Pepsi out of a shot glass.” Nico shrugs and gulps his drink down.

“I’m assuming that Piper told Percy everything or else he wouldn’t be here,” Nico says after polishing off his drink. “Also what I just said would sounds really suspicious if he didn’t know what was going on, so I’m really hoping he knows.”

“I said I would tell him,” Piper says. “I got him all caught up, but he still doesn’t really buy the whole...y’know...ghost thing.”

“If you saw Hazel lift a bracelet a mile in the air without even touching it, you’d believe it,” Nico says.

“It was only three feet, Nico,” Hazel corrects, sipping her soda.

“It could’ve been two centimeters and it would’ve scared me, let me exaggerate for effect.”

“Where’s Jason?” Hazel asks.

“He’s still at the hospital,” Percy says. “We’re going to go and visit him later and tell him everything.”

“The same hospital where Gail is?” Leo asks. Percy doesn’t even flinch, unlike the rest of them.

“Yes. I think it’s time we went and visited her. She deserves that, at least.”

“I’ll go with you,” Reyna says. Percy nods to her in gratitude. Nobody else volunteers.

“So anyways, how are you taking all of this, Perce,” Reyna asks her friend. He runs a hand through his dark hair and exhales loudly through his mouth.

“I’ll admit it, it’s pretty overwhelming,” he says. “I mean, I’ll live. But it’s a lot to process. I guess I’ve just avoided thinking about the Incident and Annabeth for so long and now it’s hitting me like a train.” They all nod in understanding.

“I guess I thought about Annabeth sometimes,” Leo admits. “I always try not to think about that time we ruined someone’s life, but I thought about Annabeth. It never really made me sad. I guess I just always felt like she was dead, so I tried to think about her finding peace in the afterlife and whatnot.”

“Why did you assume she was dead?” Reyna asks, surprisingly not upset, but genuinely curious.

“Annabeth was one of the strongest people I’d ever met; she still is, to be honest. And not in the psychological sense—although she was strong in that way, too—but in the physical sense. She could literally flip Jason over her shoulder. I just figured that if she were kidnapped or something, she’d be able to fight her way out, or use her wits to escape. So then I thought that she’d ran away, but she would’ve come back to us by now. So I have no idea what happened to her, but I think she went willingly and I think she died.” Everyone stops drinking and all movement grinds to a halt. The silence that falls over them is heavy and begs to be broken.

“Yesterday I heard some kids talking about Annabeth,” Frank says, thankfully cutting through the tension. “They made up a legend about her. They call her Anna Inside-Out because someone said he saw her with her skin peeled back and all her organs showing.”

“Gross,” Hazel says as she scrunches up her nose in disgust. “Gross even for me.”

“Yeah. They say she fell off Castellan's Jump and died, so she sucks the life out of people who come into the woods so she can soak up enough living energy to come back. It's kinda weird because I actually knew her, but I think she'd like having a story about her, even if it's creepy. She always wanted to be permanent.”

“I guess you're only actually gone when everyone forgets about you,” Leo says after downing another shot of Pepsi. “So it looks like she's not dead after all.” It's optimism in the best way and it's completely foreign to Reyna, but she likes the feeling. The conversation dies does for a few minutes, but it's a good thing. It's the calm, reflective sort of silence that indicates that everyone is just too lost in thought to speak. Reyna thinks about Annabeth: her wit, her smile, her laugh. As long as I'm here, Reyna thinks, you're here.

“What's your favorite Annabeth story?” Hazel asks everyone suddenly. Nico eagerly raises his hands.

“My favorite Annabeth story is the time she made her own alcohol at home and sold it to Bianca’s friends at one of her parties,” he says as she he throws some popcorn in his mouth. “It was like 100 proof. They couldn't even move after a few shots of the stuff. Then when they all passed out, we went through their wallets—all of B’s friends were old money, so we're talking maybe 40 to 70 dollars in cash in each wallet and there's maybe 80 people in the house.”

“What did you do with all that money?” Piper asks, bouncing Edie on her lap.

“Y’know, I really that we were going to go out and buy something cool, but Annabeth gave it all away. We saw some homeless guy get beat up by a group of assholes. After we chased them off, she just gave him all the money. He didn't ask, she didn't think about it. She just handed it over, including the money we made from selling the alcohol. That's why it's my favorite story. She was so funny like that. One second she’d do something totally illegal and morally wrong and the next second she’d do something and nice as giving a homeless guy hundreds of dollars.”

Leo holds up his pink shot glass with the words _Birthday Hoe_ printed on it, courtesy of Piper. “Let's drink to that,” he says. “Annabeth Chase: Chaotic good extraordinaire.” They all cheer in unison and throw back a shot of orange juice. Edie jumps at the sound of the glasses clicking the table, but Piper quickly soothes her by tickling her tummy. She start giggling and Piper coos over her.

“My favorite Annabeth story is the time when we were shoplifting at the Target way back in the city and we got caught,” Piper says.

“You two got caught?” Percy asks incredulously. “You two never got caught, you were like the bling ring of Agesander.”

“It never went on our records,” Piper continues. “Once we were in the LP office, Annabeth started crying. It was like movie star crying; she looked all pretty and sad and helpless. She nudged me to start crying so suddenly there are these two teenage girls just bawling their eyes out in handcuffs. The LP guy starts to feel bad for us and he’s begging us to calm down, so finally he just says that he won't put anything on our records because he thought that we made a mistake and that we weren't the kind of girls to do that sort of thing—which was totally hilarious because we stole from there a million times—and calls our parents. But Annabeth said we were sisters and she called Apollo as our guardian and she swore him to secrecy when he picked us up. So nobody ever knew.”

“She was like, scary good at manipulating people,” Frank says. “She could get nearly anything she wanted from anyone.”

“Yeah,” Piper agrees, “but it came in handy.”

“Do you ever think she manipulated some of us sometimes?” Leo asks quietly. The group is silent, save laughing, bouncing Edie. Reyna can hear everyone's breath. Nobody wants to say the obvious answer, which is yes, of course she did every once in awhile. It was like second nature to her and they always knew it. You can’t play with fire and be shocked when it burns you.

Small footsteps patter down the wood stairs, breaking everyone's thoughts. A tiny, childish voice starts to call for their mother. “That must be Leela,” Piper says with audible relief. “She'll be thrilled to meet Nico and Reyna. I'll go get her. You guys just chill for a sec.” Piper gives Edie to Leo (who gives her to Hazel) and walks away, calling out soothing sweet nothings to her daughter.

Hazel happily plays with the baby, tickling her tiny toes and making silly faces. The more Edie laughs, the more Hazel steps up her game. “I've always wanted one of these,” she says in the exaggerated, high-pitched squealing voice people use with babies. “They're so cute. You and Piper are so lucky, Percy.” She starts to levitate the baby a few inches out of her hands, swirling her around to make her smile.

“Please don't do that,” Percy says, holding on to his glass with tight white knuckles. He didn't see Hazel in action before, so he's even more wary of her powers. The rest of them already got a taste of Hazel’s abilities and they're still a little pale at the sight of her using them so casually.

“Sorry,” Hazel says as she lets go of her mental hold on Edie and lets her fall into her hands. “I use my powers all the time in private, so it feels really good to use them in front of people. But I get it if you're scared. I promise I won't hurt the baby, though. I'd never hurt a child.”

“I don't think you would _intentionally_ ,” Percy says. “But just…be careful.” Hazel nods without looking at him, too focused on Edie.

“Ok honey,” Reyna hears Piper say from down the hall. “Mommy has two friends for you to meet. They're names are Reyna and Nico and they were two of Mommy’s best friends. They're Hazel’s sister and brother.”

“Are they nice Mommy?” a little voice asks.

“Yes, I promise.” Piper and Leela come into the living room hand in hand. Piper’s crouching down to grasp Leela’s small fingers and Leela clutches on to her mother for dear life. Reyna can barely see her face since she half hiding behind Piper, but she catches a glimpse of dark brown eyes before Leela notices her looking and turns away. Reyna’s mind instantly goes back almost 20 years to when she first came to the di Angelo house: a scared, shy little brown-eyed girl hiding behind her social worker and digging her little hands into her legs.

“Say hello, Leela,” Piper says without force. “They're very excited to meet you.” Leela slowly sticks her head out, only looking at Reyna. She's a pretty girl, almost exactly like her mother but with her father’s nose. Her dark eyes are wide and wondering. Her hair, which is as black as Percy’s, is in a thick braid with some wavy hairs flying loose.

“Hello, Leela,” she says, giggling at her own clever joke. Everyone laughs alongside her, but Reyna laughs the hardest to get Leela’s attention. Leela sees her laughing and grins at her, walking over to Reyna in the awkward way that children do.

“You're Reyna,” she says, looking up at her. Up close Reyna can see that her eyes are a light brown in the middle and they slowly gradient to dark brown at the edges of her irises. Pretty.

“I am.”

“You have pretty hair.” Her voice makes the r in pretty sound like a w. Leela flushes pink and presses her hands to her chubby cheeks as if she's said something embarrassing.

“Thank you. You have pretty hair, too. Your Mommy put it in such a nice braid.” Leela giggles and starts playing with the edges of her braid. She presses her hands to her face again and runs off to Nico. Piper meets her eyes and mouths She likes you. Reyna is fiercely glad.

“I like your jacket,” Leela says to Nico as she points to his brown leather aviator jacket. It's covered in iron on patches that Bianca helped sew on, so now it's bright and colorful. Nico thanks her and Leela starts giggling again. She runs off to Percy and sits in his lap. Percy welcomes her with open arms and starts tickling her sides.

“Reyna and Daddy are going to go visit Jason, Leela,” he says to her, “so you have to say goodbye to her before we leave.”

“Stay,” Leela pouts. “Reyna can play hopscotch with me and we can play dress up with Edie and Nico.”

“She'll come back right after,” Percy says. “You get to play with Nico and Reyna will come back later to play, ok?”

“Reyna, can you read me a bedtime story?” Leela asks her from Percy’s lap. Reyna says Tess immediately; she can't say no to Leela’s cute face.”

“Why don't you ask Reyna what book you'd like read?”

“I want to ask her which book I want blue,” Leela jokes, causing everyone to giggle at her play on words. _She has all of Percy’s humor_ , Reyna notes.

“How about I make up a story for you, Leela?” Reyna asks. Leela nods excitedly and starts to bounce.

“Ok then, why don't we go play? We have Frank and Hazel and Leo and now you get to play with Nico? How does that sound?” Leela laughs and nods her head, flapping her short arms with glee. She jumps out of Percy’s lap and grabs Nico’s hands. She drags him with all her strength out to the backyard after waving to Reyna.

“Want to see which plants light on fire and which ones don't?” Reyna hears Nico say from the backyard. Percy quickly stands up and runs after them, muttering under his breath.

“Are you sure you don't want to check on that?” Reyna asks Piper.

“Percy's got it,” she says. She looks at Reyna and cocks her head towards the kitchen to signal Reyna to follow her. Reyna gets up from the soft couch and let's Piper lead the way to the kitchen.

“Take Hazel with you,” Piper says once they're in there. Her voice is low so only Reyna can hear her and her eyes are hard.

“Why?”

“I can't stand to look at her right now.”

“You're splitting, Piper,” Reyna says, placing a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder. Piper tenses and looks away, but doesn't brush her off.

“I know. I know. Like, logically I know that I don't hate her but it's so hard to tell myself that. I'm just so angry with her. I hate it when people keep secrets from me. Nothing makes me split faster.” Piper looks back at Reyna and meets her eyes.

“Are you keeping something from me,” Piper asks her. “You don't have to tell me what, but just tell me if you're keeping something from me. Anything. Just so I know. So I'm not surprised if it comes out.”

 _My father, which has nothing to do with you. The phone call, which does and I'm sorry._ “Yes.”

“And you can't tell my any of it?” Her expression is hopeful, pleading.

“I had a crush on you in 6th grade.”

Piper laughs and the tension dissipates. Reyna feels the stress flow out of her with each second of her giggles. “Ok, ok. I know that's not all but I won't press for the other stuff. Thank you. For telling me. It really does help.” She pulls Reyna close and hugs her, wrapping her arms around her waist and pressing their chests together. It's a tight hug, the kind that people give when they're still a little scared and need something to hold on to. Reyna returns it.

“And Hazel and stay,” Piper continues. “I'll work on the splitting. It'll be super hard and I make no promises, but I'll try. I'll call up my old therapist if I need to.”

“Thank you.” They separate and Reyna walks off to go get Percy and visit Jason.

“Hey, Reyna,” Piper says before she's out of earshot. “I had a thing for you in 7th.”

*

  
Percy and Reyna walk to the hospital. The weather is sunny and bright with a few light clouds passing over and the building is only a few blocks away. They stand side by side and move in silence. The silence is friendly and as warm as the weather, so Reyna doesn’t mind it so much. She still holds the marigold Sally gave her in her hand and it feels warm.

“When I was in kindergarten,” Reyna says, twirling the marigold in her hand, “my class had a huge celebration for _Día de los Muertos_. They kept asking me all sorts of questions about it because they figured that since I'm brown and speak Spanish that I must've celebrated it. I was so confused every time they asked me how to make the foods or what decorations we should've used. But I remember that marigolds were important. They used to place them on their altars to honor their family members. I think they believed that the bright color of the flower would lead the ghosts home, but I'm not sure.” Sunlight passes through a white cloud and hits the flower, making it glow. Now that she knows ghosts are real, it makes perfect sense to Reyna that ghosts could use this flower to get home. Its neon orange hue seems to light up the whole car.

“So it's a spooky ghost flower?” Percy laughs.

“Not spooky. I remember that _Día de los Muertos_ was never supposed to be scary. So it’s just a ghost flower.”

“Maybe a few ghosts are following us right now, thinking that we're going to take them home.” Both of them cautiously glance over their shoulders when Percy says that, searching for figures that they know they can't see. If he had said that a few days ago, they would've laughed. Now the possibility of some poor apparition trailing behind them in a futile attempt to see its loved ones is very real for them, and very sad, too. Reyna thinks about all those people forced to wander the earth, unable to leave the city they once called home and unable to do anything but watch life go on without them. Reyna feels immense sympathy for the creatures. She still wouldn't want to encounter one.

“This is so weird,” Reyna mutters. “We grew up with ghosts and witches and we didn't even a clue of what was going on around us.”

“At least we know now.”

“We're grown now. What does that do?”

“I'd rather know something years later than be in the dark about it forever,” Percy says. “Now we know and we can actually educate ourselves on what’s happening.”

“Do you even really want to know what's going on? This is some scary shit, Perce. You didn't see the severed arm but I did and I don't ever want to see anything like that again.”

“I don't like not knowing things. I’d rather know everything, including all the bad and painful stuff, than know nothing.”

“I guess,” Reyna says. “I just wish that our bad and painful stuff wasn’t so bad and painful.” Percy says nothing for the rest of the walk and Reyna doesn’t press him.

The hospital is pathetic compared to most, but Agesander isn’t a very big town. It’s only two floors and it stretches across the block to make it look bigger. It’s made of the same brick that the houses are made with, which makes the hospital look more like a particularly large home instead of a place of healing. It was has a few gray windows, but most of the curtains are pulled shut. The words _Jason Grace Memorial Hospital_ are printed over the red doors, named after Jason’s great-great grandfather and namesake. The inside of the hospital reminds eyna of a cross between her home and prison, with grayish walls and very little light, but classy, dark furniture. The desk in front of them is sleek mahogany and managed by one person sitting in a plush black leather chair.

“Hey, Silena,” Percy says, leaning against the desk to greet the person behind it. Silena, an old classmate and friend, smiles up at him. She’s a pretty girl with skin like her smooth desk and long hair covered with a magenta hijab.

“Hey Percy! And is that you, Reyna?” she laughs. She gets up and walks around the desk to give her a hug. She smells like vanilla and coffee and first-aid antiseptic.

“Wow, it’s been so long. I heard you were back in town, but I didn’t get the chance to visit. How are you?”

“I’m great, actually,” Reyna says. “I live in Chicago now, it’s so nice there. You should come over sometime, I’ll tell you about it.”

“I’d love that!” Silena says, smiling to show off her straight teeth. “But I’m sure you guys are here for a reason, so what’s up?”

“We were just here to say hi to Jason and visit a patient.”

“Which patient?” Silena asks, going back to her seat behind the desk. “Technically visiting hours haven’t started for non-family members, but I’ll make an exception for you guys.”

“Gail Torres,” Percy says.

Silena frowns. “You mean Gaea? Wow, nobody’s visited her in years except her mom.”

“Is she here? Reyna asks. Visiting Gail was already worrying, but seeing her mom grieve over her in person would kill her.

Silena, thankfully, shakes her head. “No. Mrs. Torres has been having some problems with her joints. Maybe arthritis, I’m not sure. She mostly stays at home unless she’s visiting Gail for her birthday or a holiday. She’s in room 278. I think Jason’s abou to check in on her right now, so you can meet him there.” They thank Silena and wave goodbye, promising to catch up later. They walk to the elevator to go up to the second floor.

“Do you think Gail gets lonely?” Percy asks Reyna once the doors have closed. The elevator is old and it groans as it slowly creeps up.

“She’s comatose, Percy. She doesn’t even know when she’s being visited and when she’s not.”

“I know. But she has to feel something. How are you alive if you don’t feel anything?”

The doors creak open and revealing the second floor. The long, dark hallway looms before them and makes Reyna uncomfortable. “Gail’s at the end,” she says. They walk. As they pass room 253, a familiar tall figure walks ahead of them. He doesn’t notice them, but Reyna recognizes that blond hair.

“Jason!” Percy calls out. He whirls around and grins when he sees them. He’s as handsome as he always was, but he’s grown more comfortable with his looks now. His blond hair is shaved closer to his head and his blue eyes are rimmed with glasses. He’s taller than she is with lean muscle and the nurse’s uniform fits him like a glove.

“Reyna?” he says happily. He runs over to her a wraps her in a bone-crushing hug. He smells like some cologne Reyna can’t place and the same antiseptic Silena smelled like. He’s warm and solid and Reyna remembers how he was so kind to her when she first came to Agesander.

“I’m back in town,” she laughs.

“So I’m just completely irrelevant right now? Ok,” Percy jests, and Jason separates from Reyna to give him a hug.  
“I saw you just last week, Perce,” Jason says.

“Maybe I’m just affectionate today.”

“Nico’s back too,” Reyna adds when Jason and Percy part.

“Damn, I had no idea,” he says. “I’m always so late on all the gossip. Working here keeps me so busy. I’m about to go check up on a patient.”

“You mean Gaea?” Percy asks. Jason frowns a little, but he nods.

“Yeah. But I don’t want to depress you guys with that. Follow me, you two have to catch me up on what’s happened with you guys.”

“I’m not sure you want to know,” Reyna says.

Jason waves her off. “Of course I do,” he says. “Tell me everything.”

“Should we start off with the journal or the severed arm?” Percy asks Reyna. Jason laughs, but Reyna and Percy are grim.

“Definitely the arm,” Reyna says. “Start off the with worst.”

“Would the next part be the journal or Hazel being a witch?” Jason barks out a laugh.

“The journal,” Reyna say as Jason lets her and Percy into Gail’s room. “Hazel being a witch was honestly the least surprising thing to happen to us.”

“You guys make good jokes,” Jason says.

“I’m not funny,” Reyna says, and she puts an arm around Jason’s shoulder as she explains everything to him.  
 

*

“You’re right, Reyna, I wish I did not know any of that.”

“Sorry.”

Jason sits cross legged in a chair next to Gail’s unconscious body lying in the hospital bed. He was on his way to check on her when Percy and Reyna showed up, so they tagged along, explaining the situation with Annabeth’s journal and the discovery and Hazel’s revelation as they walked. Jason grew paler with each step. When they got to Gail’s room, he nearly collapsed. Reyna and Percy had to stop him from fainting and sit him in one of the chairs.

“I knew this would come back to haunt us,” Jason says. “The moment it happened I knew it would come back.”

“This doesn’t mean that the Incident is back,” Reyna says. “Just some weird stuff with Annabeth.”

“This absolutely means that the Incident is back,” Jason says. “This is all connected. We’re paying for this.”

Reyna looks at Gail for the first time in more than a decade. She looks quite beautiful to her. She's definitely aged since the last time she saw her; her nose is broader and her cheekbones are more pronounced. Her dark hair has been cut recently and it barely grows out past her ears, but it looks like a halo around her head. With her olive skin and brown freckles, she reminds Reyna of a human version of the actual Gaea, a creature born straight from the earth.

“Is she ok?” Percy asks cautiously. He reaches out to touch her hand, but he pulls back once he's too close. Reyna brushes her soft hair back with her fingertips. Reyna feels cold just being around her.

“She's ok,” Jason says as he checks her monitor, watching the bright moving images and taking a few note on his clipboard. “Her vitals are fine but there's limited activity. It's amazing she's lasted this long, you're not supposed to be on life support for this amount of time.”

“She has some rashes on her arms,” Percy notes as he looks at her elbows.

“It's from lying in this hospital bed for so many years. Like I said, you're not really supposed to be on life support for this long.”

“Doesn’t she get cold in here?” Reyna asks as she shivers. Jason shrugs.

“I’ve never touched her before, so I don’t really know what her temperature is like,” Jason admits. “I don’t know. It scares me, I guess. It would be weird for me to take care of her when I helped put her here. I visit her, but I can't actually gather up the nerve to touch her.”

“I keep thinking that this is like some movie,” Percy says without moving his eyes from Gail’s face. “Like if one of us touches her, she'll wake up all of the sudden, like Beatrix in _Kill Bill_.”

“If she's Beatrix then we’re on her Death List Nine,” Reyna says. Percy looks down at his feet and wipes away a tear that nearly fell.

“Yeah,” Percy sighs. “But she was always nice and it really was an accident. Maybe she'll forgive us when she wakes up.”

“That sound nice, Perce,” Jason says, voice tight. His hands shake, causing the clipboard to bounce around as if it were in an earthquake. Reyna has no idea why Jason is so on edge, but he's redder than usual and his feet gently away and move like he's trying to stop himself from running out of the room. She thinks that maybe it's seeing Gail, but why does he have a problem now when he sees her almost every day? Reyna can't figure him out, for once in her life.

Reyna looks down at the marigold in her hand, still bright against her dark skin. “Gail used to love gardening,” Reyna muses. “She was so good with plants.” She rests the marigold in the pillow next to her corpse-like face. Reyna feels the edge of her knuckles graze her cold cheek and she shivers. The temperature plummets.

A piercing whine bursts through the room, causing Reyna, Percy, and Jason to cover their ears. Reyna can faintly hear the hard clatter of the clipboard hitting the tile floor and a strange, digital noise that she doesn't understand. She presses her hands deeper and deeper into her head to block out the agonizing noise, but it buries itself past her hands and deep into her eardrums. It seems to vibrate in her head and make her brain pound, faster, faster. She thinks she lets out a scream, but it blends perfectly with the high-frequency of the whine and she can't detect it. The noise grows louder and stronger until they all fall the ground, head between their legs. The floor begins to shake and Gail’s limp body jumps as if electrocuted. The metal hospital bed rattles and the machines so wild. The digital sounds that Reyna heard were the sounds of the computers going haywire. Gail’s vitals go from the absolute high to the absolute low, over and over and over.

The windows suddenly shatter as if an invisible force thrusts its fist through it. Glass falls everywhere and coats the room. Shards of the thick window bury into Reyna’s clothes, Reyna’s hair, Reyna’s skin. She cries out in pain as a particularly large pieces digs into the soft, sensitive skin of the neck, just barely missing her spine. The glass vase on Gail’s nightstand shatters, too, sending more glass down on Reyna’s head. Several pieces hit her eyelids and she freezes, unable to wipe them away without exposing her ears to the awful, awful sound. A small piece scrapes the white of her left eye and Reyna cries out. The fire alarm goes off, adding yet another piercing noise to the madness. The lights flash and all Reyna can see is blood and white. Reyna can hear the vague sounds of screaming and feet shuffling, scrambling to escape. She wants to yell for help, to tell someone where they are so she can get away from the awful noise, but her throat can’t form words. Everything is shaking around her and Reyna, for the second time in her life, truly thinks she’s about to die.

The noise vanishes as quickly as it came, but the fire alarm still blares. Reyna slowly pushes herself up off the the floor, inadvertently pressing more glass into the skin of her palms. She barely feels it because of the burning pain in her eye. Blood mixes with her tears and drips down into her eyelid, falling down her cheek and staining her face with pink. She feels strong arms grab under hers and lift her up until she’s standing, still wobbly. Jason holds her up until she’s leaning against him and he reaches down to help Percy stand. He screams when he’s pulled up, and he can’t quite stand. Once they’re all up, he rushes them out of the door and into the hallway.

“Gail,” Percy mutters, twisting his body back to the room. “What about Gail?”

“Don’t worry about her,” Jason says as he drags them further into the hallway. “We have to get out of here.”

The hospital is in chaos. Patients and doctors alike rush out of their rooms in a panic. Several of the patients are too weak to walk by themselves, but the nurses run past them to save their own skins. Everyone is covered in blood and glass, crying while trying to rip the shrapnel from their limbs. Every window is shattered. A few doors have been knocked down and ripped apart as if they were caught in a tornado. The emergency exits are crowded and Jason has to fight his way through the crowd to get them down the stairs. Reyna takes an elbow to the eye, the same eye with the glass piece stuck in it, and she screams. Percy nearly falls down the stairs, but Jason has a death grip on his arm. Once the stairwell spits them out with the rest of the crowd, Reyna hears the whine of emergency vehicles outside.

“She got glass in her eye,” Jason says to a nearby nurse once they’re out. “Take her to the hospital in Richmond. Hurry!” Reyna feels her body get passed to another pair of arms that carry her out the the truck. She lies on the cot and gets wheeled into the loud truck. Her ears are still sensitive after the piercing noise from Gail’s room, and she wants to tell them to turn the alarms off, but the pain in her eye drains her of her energy. She can feel her heartbeat in her head. The truck is bigger than average and it’s packed with patients, people who were already sick and people who got injured from the explosion. Reyna can hear groans and screams from the people around her and it makes her cringe.

“What the hell was that?” she hears the nurse say from above her as she drops some cold liquid into Reyna’s eye. Reyna can barely see her. She looks flatter somehow.

“Shit, I don’t know,” the other nurse replies. “Maybe a bomb?”

“It was like some sort of supernatural being,” the nurse says, “like a god.” And with that, the pain becomes too much and Reyna passes out.

\-------  
_Dámelo, Reyna._

_¡Date prisa! Nos estamos quedando sin tiempo._

_Confía en mí, hermanita._

_Reyna._

_Reyna._

_REYNA._

Reyna wakes up with a start, a film of sweat coating her body and her heartbeat racing. Her breathing speeds up until the sounds of her breath seem like they fill the room. She hasn’t dreamed about that in a long time, she thought that she had finally gotten over it. _Everything that’s going on must be bringing all my bad memories back,_ she thinks.

“She’s awake!” Piper cries from next to her hospital bed. Frank stands up from his chair on her other side and rushes towards her, grasping her hand once he’s close. They both sigh in relief.

“What happened?” Reyna asks weakly, still drowsy both from passing out and from her nightmare. Everything on her left side is dark, but she can see thick but cheap purple curtains shrouding her from the outside and the sterile white walls peeking over them. The ceiling is gray and dull. Other patients talk with their own loved ones next to her in what she assumes are their own little curtain cubicles, but their words are muffled and she can’t distinguish them. She thinks she hears fair amount of crying, but that could be echoes from the nightmare. A needle sticking out of a large vein in her arm is hooked up to a patient-controlled analgesia machine and her hand rests over the morphine release button. Piper and Frank look down at her.

“There was a freak explosion at the hospital,” Frank says. “It was like an earthquake or a pipe bomb. All the windows broke and doors got ripped of their hinges and all the machines started acting up.”

“Do you remember it?” Piper asks.

Reyna nods but stops as soon as she feels a cut on her neck tear. Her ears ring at the memory of that piercing noise and she presses the button for the painkiller. “Yeah,” she groans, “but I wish I didn’t.”

“Do you have any idea how it happened?” Frank asks her, eyes teary and concerned.

“Maybe, I’ll have to talk to Hazel. How are Percy and Jason?”

“Jason’s fine,” Piper says, “but Percy got some glass under his kneecap. He’s still asleep from the surgery. The doctor says he’ll be alright, but he’ll need a lot of recovery time until he can walk again.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Just a few hours. The glass in your eye was pretty far in there. They had to surgically remove it. You’re lucky you’re not permanently blind, but you will have some vision problems for a while. You also had a lot of cuts, so they had to give you some stitches.”

“Do you need anything?” Frank asks. “The doctor said you might still be in pain.”

“I’ve got the painkiller, I’m fine. Just a little dizzy.”

“So...how’s Gail?” Piper asks. Reyna’s arms go tight and Frank looks away, his hand starting to sweat.

“Jason said her vitals were ok,” Reyna says. “She has some rashes for being in the bed for so long, but I think she’s fine other than that.” Piper nods.

“But y’know,” Reyna continues, “Jason seemed really nervous. I don’t know why, but I think he’s not telling us something about Gail.”

“He’s on his way,” Piper says. “We can ask him once he’s here. He had to go help with the patients who were being treated when the explosion went off.”

A soft knock on the metal rods holding up the curtains takes Reyna’s attention away from Piper and Frank. Reyna sees bright golden curls and a shiny streak of black.

“Is she awake?” Nico asks as he hold a dollar store bouquet of roses in his trembling hands. Hazel’s arm is linked around his and they’re close.

“I’m fine,” Reyna calls out from her bed. Hazel darts over to her sister and wraps her arms around her neck in a bone-crushing hug. Her arms tighten against the cut on the back of her neck and Reyna cries out.

“Sorry!” Hazel yelps, quickly moving her arms. “I’m so sorry!”

The pain from the cuts leave a burning sensation across her neck and Reyna winces. “It’s fine, just watch out for the cuts.”

“We were so worried about you,” Nico says as he awkwardly hands her the flowers. They smell sweet and clean. “We saw the explosion on the news. So many people died, Rey. We were so worried.

“I’m ok,” Reyna says reassuringly, “I promise.”  
“Good,” Hazel sighs. “Now what happened in there? The reporter said that they don’t know what caused the explosion. Some people are saying there was a bomb.”

The curtains are yanked open and Jason stands under the metal rods. He looks haunted somehow; his blue eyes are darker and his skin has taken on a greyish hue. His hospital uniform is covered in splatters of blood and urine and God knows what else. He carelessly drops his clipboard on the ground and plops down in one of the chairs near Reyna’s bed, his unfocused eyes staring at nothing. Piper walks over to him and kneels down to look him in the eye.

“Jason?” she says soothingly, almost like how she talks to Edie and Leela.

“So many people, Piper,” he mutters. “All those people hooked up to machines. We couldn’t get them to the city fast enough. They all died, Piper. Some were in the middle of surgery. We tried to operate on the way but we didn’t have the right equipment…”

“It’s not your fault,” Piper says. “Nobody could’ve known that this would happen. You did everything you could.” Jason buries his head into his hands.

“I don’t even know why someone would bomb the hospital,” he says. “It’s not like Agesander is a hotspot for terrorists.”

“I don’t think it was a bomb,” Reyna says. “It didn’t sound like a bomb.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jason says, slowly lifting his head up. “It sounded like...God I’ve never heard anything like it. It was like a super high-pitched whistle, almost. And it was so loud it hurt my ears. I felt like my head was about to explode.”

“What else?” Hazel asks. Fear tinges her voice and Reyna knows exactly what she’s thinking.

“It was cold,” she says. “Right before the noise started, the temperature just dropped out of nowhere.”

“Oh God,” Hazel cries, covering her mouth with her hands.

“Hazel what’s wrong?” Nico asks her, trying to comfort her, but Hazel keeps shaking her head and muttering to herself.

“It was a ghost, wasn’t it?” Reyna asks, but she already knows the answer. Hazel nods and she feels her stomach churn.

“That noise,” Hazel chokes out. “I’ve heard it before. When I was little, some ghost attacked me and it made this high-pitched screaming noise. And every time a ghost is near, it gets cold. It’s like they suck all the warmth out of the air, and it gets colder the more powerful the ghost is.”

“How can they even do that?” Franks asks.

Hazel shrugs. “I don’t know. I never got to really learn about them, but I do that that this ghost has to be extremely powerful to blow up a building. I didn’t even know they could get that strong.”

“But who would do it?” Piper asks. “Who would want to blow up the hospital? Why?”

Reyna thinks back on her visit to Gail, trying to recall any detail that could be a hint: the sound of Jason’s pen writing on the clipboard, the sighs coming from Percy as he looked at Gail, the cold feeling of Gail’s skin when Reyna brushed her fingers against her, the bright marigold that looked so orange next to Gail’s paleness.

“Gail,” Reyna says. “The noise started right after I touched her face. None of us have ever touched her, it must’ve triggered something.”

“But Gail isn’t dead,” Frank says. “How can she be a ghost?”

“She _is_ dead,” Jason whispers. His voice breaks as if he were twelve again and his blue eyes begin to well up with tears. He covers his face with his clipboard to avoid everyone's eyes. The rest just look at him blankly, mouths ajar and eyes glassy. Reyna has a sudden urge to vomit.

“What?” Piper chokes out, her own eyes starting to water. She can't look at his face.

“I’m so sorry,” he sobs. It's ugly crying, the sloppy, sticky kind. “I know how guilty everyone is and I didn’t want to make it worse. So I didn’t tell anyone. But she’s dead. She’s been dead for years, I’m so sorry.”

“That can’t be true,” Reyna says with disbelief clear in her voice. “I saw you check her vitals. Her heart was still beating.”

“She’s _brain_ dead. It’s the same thing. Once your brain is gone, you can’t come back. Life support keeps her body functioning, but she’s dead. Her mom still has some sway at the hospital because she was the mayor’s wife and she begged them not to take her off. So she’s been lying there dead for years. She died a little bit before Annabeth went missing.”

“That means we killed somebody,” Piper whispers, clutching her heart. “We’re murderers.”

Reyna presses the button attached to the IV machine and lets the narcotics flow into her blood until she stops think about Gail and the Incident and how the terrible noise was almost as terrible as the noises Gail made when it happened.  
 

*

  
“You promised you'd tell me a story, Reyna,” Leela says from her bed. Reyna did promise, which is why she's curled up in the fetal position in Leela's tiny bed. Her room is exactly what Reyna expected it to be: a girlish haven of pink and purple with bright walls and dolls everywhere. Leela herself is clutching a stuffed dove to her chest while Reyna holds a Barbie. She was released from the hospital that morning and the first thing she wanted to do once she was out was keep her promise to Leela. Her position tugs at her stitches and her eye is still bandaged and throbbing, but it's worth it to see Leela’s bright brown eyes light up.

“I'm going to, I'm going to,” Reyna says. “I'm just a little dizzy after all that medicine I took yesterday. Just give me a second to think about it.” Leela nods patiently and Reyna taps her chin to show Leela that she's thinking.

“Ok. How about a story about queens?”

Leela claps her hands and squeals. “Queen stories are my favorite stories!”

“Alright then. Now this story is a little sad at first.” Leela’s face drops and her eyes widen. “Don't give me that look, I promise you that it has a happy ending. Are you ready?”

“Yes, Ms. Reyna,” Leela says as she buries herself deeper into her warm comforter.

“Ok. Once upon a time, there were two queens named Annabelle and Rebecca. They were the queens of Sanderage, a beautiful country with sparkling rivers and bright blue skies and pretty marigolds that grew everywhere. They lived in a castle on a hill that was so big that people could see it from miles away and every month they held a grand ball and invited everyone in the country to come, even the poor. All of their people loved them very much, for they were very kind, but nobody loved them as much as they loved each other.

“One day, while Queen Rebecca was sleeping, Queen Annabelle ran off to pick some marigolds. She wanted to surprise Rebecca because the marigolds were her favorite part of Sanderage. So she got up at the crack of dawn to find the brightest, biggest, prettiest marigolds in the land. But the best marigolds grew near a witch’s lair. Her name was Greta and everyone in the country was afraid of her. She was a very powerful witch. She grew the best flowers near her lair so that she could snatch up whoever came to pick them.”

“But Queen Annabelle is going to pick them!” Leela gasps, squeezing her bunny. “Will she be ok?”

“You'll have to find out, silly,” Reyna says as she tweaks Leela’s little nose. Leela bats her hand away and giggles.

“Well, Queen Annabelle didn't know the witch’s plan. So she searched and searched for the best marigolds until she a young woman holding the prettiest marigolds she’d ever seen. Annabelle just had to know where she got them from.

‘Excuse me, miss,’ she said, ‘but where did you get those marigolds? They're lovely.’

‘I grew them myself,’ the woman said. ‘I'll give you some of you come with me. I could use some company.’

“So Annabelle walked with the young woman into the deep part of the forest, where the trees were so tall that you couldn't see the tops and animals watched you wherever you went. Annabelle was scared, but she really wanted to get those flowers for Rebecca.”

“Because she loved her!”

“Very much. So she kept following the woman until they reached her house. It was a little wooden cabin with a pretty garden in the back. The woman led Annabelle to the garden and told her that she could pick as many marigolds as she wanted. They were so beautiful that Annabelle wanted every last one. She picked and picked until her arms were full of flowers. But then she saw one particularly bright marigold. It was glowing in the sunlight. She dropped all her flowers and went over to get that one. She had to have it. But when Annabelle pulled at its stem, the flower didn't budge. She pulled and pulled, but she still couldn't get it out. What she didn't know was that the young woman was actually Greta and that the special marigold was cursed. When Annabelle was pulling the flower, its leaves grew up around her until she was in a marigold cocoon. She couldn't move or talk. Then, Greta took the queen’s cocoon into the basement of her house and put a sleeping spell on her.”

“But what about Rebecca?” Leela asked with sad, wide eyes.

“Well when she woke up and Annabelle wasn't there, she was very worried. She searched every inch of the castle, but she wasn't there. She searched the big hill and the rivers and she went to their favorite places, but Annabelle was lost. She had the whole kingdom search for her, but nobody could find her. Rebecca was so sad. She cried every day that she was gone. All of Sanderage was crying for their queen until their tears formed a new river.

“On a sunny day nine years later, a group of travelers sailed up the new river of tears. One of the travelers was a witch named Hannah, but she was a good witch. She and her friends asked the townspeople they met why they were crying. They told her about the queen who had gone missing nine years ago. Hannah was very moved and wanted to help, so she went to go visit Queen Rebecca. The castle was very dark and empty because Rebecca stopped cleaning up around the house, so Hannah had to look very hard. She saw a tiny trail of water on the castle floors and followed it. The water was Rebecca’s tears and the trail led Hannah right to her.

‘Who are you?’ Rebecca asked Hannah. As the queen, she knew every face in the kingdom, so it startled her to see a stranger.

‘I'm Hannah, the good witch from Old Orleans, and I've come to help,’ said Hannah.

“The queen didn't believe her at first. ‘How can you help me?’ she asked. ‘It's been nine years since I last saw Annabelle and nothing has helped.’

‘I can find her,’ Hannah said. ‘All I need is a mirror and a lock of her hair.’

“Rebecca still wasn't sure, but she got the mirror anyways and found some hair in one of Annabelle’s old brushes. Hannah said a spell and placed the hair on the mirror. It started to glow and they could see Annabelle in her cocoon. She was still in the witch’s house after all those years, totally asleep. Rebecca and Hannah had to figure out a way to wake her up.

“So Hannah and Rebecca traveled across the kingdom to find the witch. When they came across the cabin and the garden, Rebecca saw all the pretty marigolds and went over to pick them. The witch cast a spell on the flowers so that anyone who saw them would want them. If Rebecca picked them, she'd end up like Annabelle. Hannah stopped her from touching the flowers just in time. Together they stormed into the witch’s house and demanded that she return the queen. But the witch didn't like the queens and she wanted to make the whole kingdom sad, so she refused.”

“That's mean,” Leela says, slightly sleepy but fighting to stay awake. “Why does she wants to make people sad.”

“You'll see. So Greta tried to hurt Hannah and Rebecca using her powers. She used her magic wand to build up a huge ball of dark energy and flung it right at them. But Hannah and Rebecca were very clever. When the spell was getting close, they ducked down and pretended to be hurt so that the witch would think she defeated them. When the witch stood over them, Rebecca stick her foot out to trip her, and Greta fell over and dropped her wand. Hannah grabbed her wand and broke it in half, taking away the witch’s powers. Annabelle’s cocoon unraveled once the magic was gone and she fell out, perfectly unharmed. Rebecca and Annabelle were so happy to see each other again. They hugged and kissed and danced around the celebrate. Hannah was very happy for them, but Greta was angry.

‘Why did you trap me?’ Annabelle asked her.

‘Everyone in Sanderage is scared of me,’ she said. ‘So nobody ever invited me to your big parties and I felt left out.’

“Rebecca and Annabelle felt bad for Greta. They didn't want anyone to feel left out. So instead of punishing the witch, they took her back to the castle and held a huge party. Everyone in the country came, including Greta. Hannah and her friends were there, too. They liked Sanderage so much that they decided to live there permanently. And Greta was happy to be included for once. Hannah fixed her wand and gave her her magic back and she became a good witch. She and Hannah helped people across the land using their powers. And Rebecca and Annabelle were never separated again. The end.”

“That was a nice story,” Leela yawns as she rubs her dark eyes. “I'm glad Rebecca and Annabelle are together again.”

“Me too,” Reyna says as she stands up. Her joints pop and crack as she stretches her arms over her head. “I told you it was going to have a happy ending.”

“Can you tell me another story, Reyna?” Leela asks her, despite the fact that her eyelids are drooping already. Reyna fluffs her silk pink pillow and pulls her blankets up over her body. She sets the Barbie doll next to her head and Leela grabs it immediately.

“I think you're getting tired, Leela,” Reyna says. “How about I come over some other time and tell you a whole new story?” Leela nods sleepily.

“Can you stay until I fall asleep?” Leela asks her. Reyna nods and sits back down on her bed. She gathers some of Leela’s long black hair in her hands and starts to braid it.

“I'm glad Greta got to go to the party. Everyone needs friends,” Leela says.

“That's true.”

“Wouldn't it be cool if real life was like a story?” Leela slurs, sleep getting the best of her. Her grip on her bunny slackens and Reyna finishes the end of her braid.

“Yeah. It would, wouldn't it?”


	8. reading is fundamental

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang finds some interesting information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to give my poor beta a break so this is entirely unedited. please tell me if you see a mistake so I can fix it.

_September 27, 1998, 7:12 p.m._

“Remember, this is a very high class party,” Maria said to Reyna, her siblings, and Annabeth at their table. “Some of the wealthiest and most important people in town are here and your father has to impress them in order to make a business deal. You must be on your best behavior." She was sterner than Reyna had ever seen her—to be fair, Reyna had only been there for three weeks—but her voice was still soothing and calm. She was one of the things that was calm at the hectic party. Hades’ company had to make a deal with the Elowens, the other family that had founded Agesander and the richest family in town. If the Di Angelos were old money, the Elowens were timeless, and the grand estate of Miss Hera Elowen reflected that. The mansion made the di Angelo manor look like a mud hut. It was on the outskirts of town and maybe twice the size and three times as long, with an expansive neon green front lawn with a polished marble fountain depicting a child pouring out water. Reyna didn't get to see the backyard, but she figured that it was like Sally Jackson's tiny garden on steroids. The house was a light cream color with pale blue trimming, pretty and pastel. Tall roof peaks jutted out and touch the sky, making it seem like the house was watching over them when they arrived. The inside was equally opulent; the white walls were covered in paintings from all over the world and the black granite floor clicked under Reyna’s dress shoes. Three staircases, two spiral ones with a straight wide one in the middle, stood under a small diamond chandelier. Clean, clear windows let the moonlight stream in, illuminating the diamonds hanging from the ceiling. It was the most elegant place Reyna had ever seen in her life.

“We’ll behave,” Bianca said to her mother. “I’ll keep an eye on everyone just to make sure.” Bianca was entirely in her element as the luxe party. Her dark hair was swept up into a bun and decorated with a string of pearls. Her face was left natural looking save for berry lips and a touch of black over her eyelids. Extravagant diamond jewelry lined her neck and wrists and they sparkled against her black velvet dress. Reyna saw many boys gawk at her when she came in, but Bianca was busy eyeing her friend Thalia, who was standing with her family in completely inappropriate punk attire. Nico and Hazel were also comfortable; Nico in his pressed black three-piece suit and Hazel in her purple gown with a cupcake shaped tulle skirt. But they had been to dozens of these gatherings and it was Reyna’s first time. Her lumpy, fluffy orange dress was tight in all the wrong places and her pointy white shoes hurt her feet. Already people had approached her to get a curious look at the strange, foreign girl the di Angelos had let into their house. Their eyes were odd and predatory, they watched her like she was an exotic creature in a cage for their viewing pleasure. Her main comforts were that Bianca would subtly nudge them out of Reyna’s personal space when she looked too uncomfortable and that Maria had let her bring Annabeth. Even though it hadn't been a month yet, Reyna felt an unexplainable connection to the strange girl and she had begged her to come to the party with her. Annabeth jumped at the chance to get out of the house and arrived at the di Angelo house in a silver gown and a full face of makeup.

“These parties are always boring,” Nico said to Reyna once Maria had left and Bianca waved Thalia over. He took a bite of the fettuccine pasta that one of the waiters had laid in front of him and hummed appreciatively. “At least the food is good.”

“I love them,” Hazel said as she took a sip of bubbly apple cider from a crystal glass. “Everything's so pretty and sparkly. And Miss Hera’s house is beautiful.”

“Who's she?” Reyna asked. “Hera, I mean.”

“She's an Elowen, that's all that matters,” Annabeth said as she pushed her food around. It started to burn brown and mushy. “She's one of the poorer ones, if you can believe it.”

“You mean the other ones have even more money?” Reyna asked, shocked and confused when the other nodded. She had grown up in places where people could barely pay the rent on their one room apartments. These people could buy her entire old neighborhood and sell it at a garage sale.

“She's not that great, Rey,” Annabeth said after seeing Reyna’s expression. She had started calling her that a few days ago and Reyna liked the way it sounded coming from Annabeth’s mouth. “She's stuck-up and rude and she only cares about her money.”

“Annabeth hates Elowens,” Nico explained.

“With good reason.” A waiter came by and offered to fill their glasses, but they barely heard his soft voice over everyone's chatter. He poured bubbly cider into Reyna’s glass—a glass that probably could've paid for her sister’s lawyer—and walked off to the next table. Reyna watched him for a moment, his grace catching her off guard. He moved like a spirit.

“Even though she's not a great person,” Hazel said, “you have to admit that she has an amazing house.”

“Nah, too gaudy,” Annabeth said. “Gaudy and fake, just like Hera and the rest of her family.” She checked her makeup in one of her silver spoons and rubbed some of her pastel pink blush across her flawlessly painted face until it looked like she had some sort of rash. “There. That should piss them off.”

“Annabeth, we have to be good today,” Hazel protested. “We have to make a good impression for Daddy.”

“He's not my dad, he's yours. Hera likes you guys and she’ll probably like Reyna. Don't worry about it, it's me she has a problem with.”

Reyna was about to ask her how she Hera could've had a problem with her and how the two even knew each other when Annabeth looked up behind Reyna’s head and scowled. Reyna turned around and saw the woman of the hour herself standing above them.

“Oh, if it isn't the lovely di Angelo children,” she cooed, smiling to show off pearly white teeth. Nico, Hazel, and Bianca all said polite hellos and even Thalia, despite her unapproved clothes, was courteous. The woman didn't look as old as she thought she would. She knew Hera was older than Hades, but she looked much younger. Her long black hair was grey at the temples, but it looked distinguished instead of embarrassing and Hera did nothing to cover it. Her skin was free of lines save for her eyes and the corners of her mouth and her brown eyes reminded Reyna of chocolate or coffee and other sweet comfort foods. She was a beautiful, stately woman and when she turned to look at Reyna she was absolutely fascinated by her.

“And this must be Reyna,” she said, her voice and gaze warm. “You're just as pretty as Maria said. I hope you've had a nice time here in Agesander.” Reyna could do nothing but nod, words escaped her.

“And…Miss Chase,” Hera said, the warm voice quickly cooling until it was frozen over. “I wasn't expecting to see you here.” Her eyes narrowed and she looked much older then, in Reyna’s eyes. Annabeth didn't flinch.

“Hello Hera,” Annabeth said. Hera raised an eyebrow—very similar to how Annabeth raised hers—at the child’s use of her first name, but she said nothing. “Reyna invited me.”

“Interesting,” Hera said, now giving Reyna the same cold look she gave Annabeth earlier. Reyna was determined not to flinch, even though her state made her hands shake. “And Mr. and Mrs. di Angelo let you come?”

Nico, Hazel, and Bianca all froze and looked at each other. They were well aware of Annabeth and Hera’s mutual dislike, just like everyone else in town. If Hades let her come to Hera’s house knowing their history, Hera would reject him for sure. Annabeth was still looking at Hera, searching for an answer that wouldn't involve the di Angelos losing their money.

“I snuck her in, actually,” Thalia interrupted from her spot next to Bianca. The latter glanced at her as if to ask what she was doing, but Thalia pressed on. “She asked me for a favor and I obliged. You know how protective I am over my brother’s close friends.”

“Yes, Jason,” Hera said, softening and taking her attention off of Annabeth. “How is he? Does he still need me to help him with his piano lessons?”

“Of course, but he's getting better,” Thalia said. “I'll let him know that you’re available.”

“That would be excellent, thank you Thalia. Well, I have a party to get to, but it was lovely to see you all. Please, enjoy my hospitality.” She smiled at each of them individually, save Annabeth, and seemed to float away to the next table to greet more guests.

“I'm so sorry,” Reyna said to the di Angelos once Hera was gone. “I didn't know about Hera not liking Annabeth! I didn't mean to risk Hades’ job!”

“It's fine, sweetie,” Bianca said, crossing the table to kneel down and hold Reyna in a one-armed hug. “You don't have to be sorry for not knowing something. There's a lot of stuff that goes on in this town, nobody expects you to learn everything in just a few weeks.”

“She's probably fine now,” Thalia added. “She pretty much wants to adopt Jason, so even hearing his name calms her down. Don't worry about it. Look.” She pointed over to where Hera was and saw her chatting cheerfully with Maria with champagne glasses in each hand. She was back to being the beautiful, worldly woman Reyna saw earlier.

“It's my fault,” Annabeth said, putting a warm hand on Reyna’s shoulder. “I knew how much Hera hated me and I still came.”

“I'm glad you're here anyways,” Reyna said as she covered Annabeth’s hand with her own. “But why does she hate you so much? How do you even know each other?”

Annabeth started to avoid Reyna’s eyes and stared exclusively at her silver spoon, which nearly matched her eyes, until they heard Hera announce that a small orchestra had come to perform and the floor turned into a ballroom. People flooded in to dance with various partners and the music was so pretty that Reyna thought it might've come from heaven. “Let's dance!” Annabeth said suddenly, tearing Reyna out of her chair and out of Bianca’s grasp, dragging her to the dance floor.

“Be gentle with her, Annabeth!” Bianca called out after them before reaching over to Thalia and leading her to the floor herself.

In the center of the room surrounded by people, Reyna felt awkward. Her dress already itched, but it was starting to feel hot and sweaty. She tapped her tight shoes together to see if that would relieve the pressure (it didn't) and scratched the nape of her neck hoping it wouldn't turn red (it did). Annabeth picked up on her nervousness quickly, and she giggled. She wrapped one arm around Reyna’s waist and held her hand with the other until they were in a waltz position.

“Don't be nervous,” Annabeth said. “Dancing is kind of fun.”

“I've never done it before. Not like this.”

“Then go slow, and follow my lead.” Annabeth started to move—slowly, as to make sure Reyna could keep up. Reyna’s feet followed until the they moving in a small circle; Annabeth's foot would move back, Reyna's would move forward to meet it, and this continued as Reyna laughed.

“Our feet are dating,” Reyna joked. “Mine always wants to be where yours are.” Annabeth laughed, a genuine one unlike the giggles she usually did.

“You're funny,” Annabeth said.

“I'm not.”

“You are. And I told you dancing was fun,” she said as she spun Reyna around in a circle to make her smile.

“You were right. But I still want to know why you and Hera hate each other.” Reyna felt Annabeth’s hand tighten around her waist, not enough to hurt but just enough to feel it.

“Boy, you are stubborn.”

“You're one to talk.”

“Touché,” Annabeth sighed. “Remember my mom?”

“Do I remember you talking about her? Yes. Also, Maria told me that she's still alive. You said she was dead, why’d you lie to me?”

Annabeth shook her head. “One personal question at a time, Rey. I've got to know you longer than a few weeks to tell you that, but we’ll get there. I promise, I can feel it. Anyways, she's my mom’s mom. My grandmother, although I've never called her that. I'm an Elowen, kind of. Everybody knows already but nobody talks about it since she disowned Athena. We don't like to discuss the past here. She's probably embarrassed to be reminded of her daughter.” Before Reyna could respond, Annabeth spun her around in another circle until the music stopped and everybody clapped. They parted and Annabeth curtsied to her.

“Why did Hera disown your mom?” Reyna asked as Annabeth returned to a standing position.

She shrugged. “Don't know. Don't particularly care, to be honest. I don't like either of them.”

“But wh—”

Annabeth reached out and held Reyna’s cheeks together until her mouth was too squished to speak, which felt weird and little condescending to Reyna. “No more personal questions,” said Annabeth, and her tone left no room for comment. She released Reyna, who rubbed her cheeks and frowned.

“Alright, no more personal questions,” she agreed. “But don't do that to my face again.”

“Deal.” True to her word, Annabeth never grabbed Reyna’s face again and Reyna was grateful to finally have someone respect her personal space.

* * *

 

_July 28, 2015, 2:38 p.m._

It was Hazel’s idea to go to the library and look for more information. After the whole explosion and Jason’s confession, they were shaken up for days. But Hazel swore that she cast a protective spell over them and their families and convinced them that they needed some outside sources to figure out what was going on. The library is one of the oldest buildings in Agesander and it shows its age very well. It's a small but sturdy establishment with thick brown bricks that were rough enough to tear through skin and vines that flow in and out of the crevices. It used to be house of the first mayor, so a long chimney juts out of the slightly dilapidated roof and blows blackness into the air. The broken window above the door is the first Reyna notices, because she remembers when Leo broke it. It's in no better shape than it was when she left, but it's not any worse than it was either. Hazel pushes open the pale wood door and they follow her inside. There are barely any lights on, but the hole in the window provides enough sunlight for them to see. The first floor is lined with stocked bookshelves and there are a few tables, but the comfy couches and plush seats are all upstairs. The library is empty except for a small librarian with deep red hair and a nervous disposition. Reyna doesn't recognize her.

“Hello?” Frank calls out. The librarian jumps and drops the books she was holding. Frank rushes over to help her pick them up and she relaxes once she can see who's there.

“Sorry,” she squeaks once Frank hands her the dropped books. “I wasn't expecting anybody to come in. What can I help you with Frank?”

“It's cool, Ella,” Frank says. “My friends and I were just looking for any books on the history of Agesander, you got any?”

Ella smiles and adjusts her dirty glasses. “Yes! We have a whole section on Agesander’s history. It's mostly primary sources from past town members. I've read all of them. They're very interesting. Some of them have old town lore, like stories about monsters and ghosts.”

“That's what we're looking for.”

“Great!” Ella says. “I'll lead the way.” She scurries off towards one of the bookshelves and they have to speed walk to keep up with her fast pace. She shows them a small corner at the bottom of the tallest bookshelf and walks away before they can thank her, biting down on her nails as she goes.

“She's a little anxious,” Frank explains.

“Who is she?” Nico asks. “I've never seen her before.”

“Remember Rachel Dare from school? That's her cousin. She moved here about a year ago to live with her. You and Reyna were out of town. She's really nice,” Frank says. “Anyways, let's start reading.”

Reyna kneels down and picks out the thickest book she sees. She pulls it out by the spine and blows dust off the cracked black leather cover. In gold lettering it reads _PROPERTY OF HENRY PETER ELMER_ in gold letters. “Who’s Henry Peter Elmer?” she asks.

“He was one of the mayors,” Leo answers.

“Wasn't he one of Octavian's ancestors?” Jason asks. “Remember how he was always bragging about how his family founded the town and how he was related to some of the mayors?”

“Ugh. Yes,” Percy grimaces. “He'd never shut up about it. What happens to him, anyways? He totally vanished when we were kids.”

“He ran away from home,” Leo says. “Anyways, be careful with that book, it's over a century old if it really belonged to Henry Elmer.” Reyna nods and carefully opens the book.

“It's a scrapbook,” she says, flipping through the thin browned pages. Dark photographs with white and black speckles cover each page, from family portraits of grim looking loved ones to pictures of babies draped in silk dresses and bonnets. The biggest photo is one of a beautiful young woman. She’s sitting on a chair that nearly resembles a throne and she faces the camera head on. She slouches slightly and the loose white dress billows around her, exposing her pale shoulder and the tops of her breasts. Her head is cocked slightly towards her lap, covering it with long, dark hair and she has a seductive half-smile, like she's flirting with the cameraman. One eyebrow is raised in the way that Annabeth used to raise hers. This picture is the only one with a caption, a messy string of hastily written words: _Vivienne Elowen, 1893._

“Vivienne Elowen,” Reyna says out loud. “Elowen. That sounds so familiar, isn't that the name of that super rich family that Hades hates for having so much money?”

“That was the other family who founded Agesander,” Percy says. “They’re like royalty.”

“Wasn’t Annabeth’s mom an Elowen?” Piper asks. “Athena Elowen, right?”

“Yeah. Vivienne does kind of look like Annabeth,” Jason says as he looks over Reyna’s shoulder. “I mean, the picture’s in black and white but they—I don't know—have the same energy or something. She's even doing that eyebrow thing Annabeth would always do.”

“She looks like Athena,” Nico says. “And Athena looked like a dark haired, brown eyed version of Annabeth. Or Annabeth was a blonde, grey eyed version of her. Either way, there's a family resemblance.”

“Ella said that there was some ghost stuff about old Agesander around here,” Hazel says. “If the Elowens and the Elmers were some of the first people here, they're probably involved. And maybe it has something to do with Annabeth.”

“Ok, so I’ll ask Ella for stuff about the Elowens,” Frank says. “You guys keep looking, I’ll be right back.” He leaves them to go over to Ella, who looks increasingly nervous the closer he gets to her, while Reyna looks for more books.

“I don't remember Annabeth ever mentioning that she was an Elowen,” Reyna says.

“Dad says that they wanted nothing to do with her for some reason,” Hazel says. “So I guess she gave them the same treatment she gave her mom.”

“That's disgusting,” Percy says. “Abandoning a member of your own family. Why would they do that to her anyways?”

Hazel shrugs. “Old money is complicated. Hades’ mother wanted to put me up for adoption because I was a bastard, and she would've if Hades hadn't intervened. They do things like that. It's all about reputation.”

“I'm so glad I'm broke,” Percy says, flipping through another book. “Hey, you guys, this might be useful.” He shows them the cover of the book, a slim journal with a torn ribbon bookmark and a faded brown cover.

“Is that someone's diary?” Leo asks. “Because I have a thing against journals lately.”

“It is,” Percy says. “It belonged to Clara Sorenson Elowen, wife of professor William Elowen. There's one entry about their son that's...well, I’ll just read it.

_Journal, I had planned on writing this to William’s cousin and my friend, Beauford Levesque, but I was much too scared to let another person read this. Instead I will keep the letter in here._

_Dearest Beauford,_

_My dear cousin, how are you? I do hope that life in New Orleans is treating you well. I have heard that the city is quite beautiful. I miss you greatly. Life in Agesander is starting to scare me. I wish you were here to protect me, you have always been so strong._

_It has been many years since we last saw each other, so you have not met my son. His name is Charles. He was born three years ago and he is very bright and beautiful. He has my dark hair and my father’s green eyes and skin like the face of the moon. I love my son more than anything and anyone, but I am afraid of him. I think he may be possessed by a demon of some sort. I fear him, but I also fear for his life. I do not know what would happen if I told anyone in Agesander about my suspicions, so I tell only you._

_My Charles is not like other children his age. He does not cry or whine like the children do and he refuses to play anyone his age. He reads at an alarmingly high level for his age. I have seen him devour some of his father’s mathematics textbooks and he reads the newspaper like a grown man. He talks to me like an adult. Charles loves me, of course, but he has criticized me for being too dull. He would rather discuss ideas with his father than be with me, but William is far too busy with his university job._

_Charles does not know this, but I have watched him when he thinks he is alone. He does frightening things, Beauford. I have seen him make objects disappear and reappear out of thin air. I have seen him make things float up or fly around. It is devilish. I feel wicked just writing about his demonic antics. I fear a demon has taken over my son’s body._

_I know you are no longer a priest, but please write to me if you have any idea how to help my Charles. I can not stay in this house when Satan lies under my roof._

_Yours always,_

_Clara Sorenson Elowen_

“Creepy right?” Percy adds once he's done reading. “I guess Charles was like Hazel.”

“I'm much nicer than that,” Hazel protests. “But yeah, I guess he was a witch or something. What was her cousin’s last name again?”

“Levesque.”

“Huh,” Hazel says. “Funny. That's my birth mom’s last name. She's from New Orleans and Clara said he moved there. Maybe there's a relation.”

“If Beauford is William’s cousin and William is a blood Elowen,” Nico says, “that makes you part Elowen. You and Annabeth are like super distant cousins or something.”

“Cool,” Hazel says. “But I'll research that more later. What about Charles and Clara?”

“She doesn't really talk about him after that,” Percy says, re-reading a few of the entries.

“You guys,” Frank says, holding up an old newspaper covered in plastic. “Ella found this news article about the Elowens and the Elmers. You gotta see this.” He places the paper on one of the tables and pulls the plastic back, filling the empty air with a crinkling sound. The paper is huge once it's unfolded and Reyna has to search the whole page until she sees which article Frank is talking about.

_THE CURSE OF THE ELOWEN-ELMERS_

_Thomas Nakamura_

_For nearly three centuries, the Agesander community has been dominated by two families: the Elmers and the Elowens. It is said that the first group of people to first arrive in the area that would be known as Agesander was lead by two cousins named Johnathan Elowen and Matthew Elmer, who decided to settle down and found a town in 16--. Since then, their descendants have been mayors, professors, sheriffs, and other prominent town leaders. Both families have been living in the lap of luxury since their ancestors arrived, but are our beloved socialites hiding a dark secret? I've talked to Hera Elowen, the only daughter of Andrew and Ginevra Elowen, and Juno Elmer, the youngest child of Oliver and Giselle Elmer, their thoughts._

_Thomas Nakamura: Hello, ladies. It's an honor to be in the presence of such aristocratic young women._

_Hera Elowen: Thank you._

_Juno Elmer: It's an honor to be interviewed for our town newspaper. We love your column._

_Nakamura: that's wonderful to hear. So, ladies, lately there has been talk of a curse on both of your families. No Elowen or Elmer has lived past sixty-five and many have died in terrible, mysterious accidents, such as house fires with no source and sudden explosions._

_Elmer: Yes._

_Nakamura: Miss Elowen, these rumors have gotten worse since your own parents were horribly disfigured in a car accident._

_Elowen: I know. It is truly awful that my kind, sweet parents had to go through that. I'm just thankful that they are still alive. I would be devastated if my daughter didn't grow up knowing her grandparents._

_Nakamura: Do you think that the accident was somewhat mysterious in nature?_

_Elowen: Well, yes. Nobody know why the car crashed or what it crashed into. The car was found in the river. My father is a very careful driver and my mother would never distract him. I don't know what happened. Again, I'm just thankful that they were found in time and survived._

_Nakamura: Less than a year ago, your husband, Ronan Elowen, died. My condolences, of course, but did you ever question why such a strong and healthy young man suddenly took his own life?_

_Elowen: Thank you for your sympathy, and no. I’ve never talked about this because I didn't want to dishonor his memory, but my Ronan was not the same man I married after our daughter was born. Athena is such a lovely baby, but Ronan seemed distant from her, and me by extension. I was not surprised when he killed himself. I think he would be proud of us now, though. I'm sure he is happier with God._

_Nakamura: Can you think of any other reasons why the public would think your families are cursed?_

_Elmer: There have been many strange occurrences. I remember as a child I used to listen to my mother—who's an Elowen by blood—tell me the story of Juniper Elowen, my great-great-great aunt. She was said to have green blood and black eyes. They said she could grow plants by touching them and breathe life into the dead. I didn't believe her, even when she showed me a photograph of her where her eyes do look very black. That night when I was on the edge of sleep, I saw her standing above my bed. She was just watching me. My father told me that I was seeing things, but it felt so real. I could've touched her._

_Elowen: Our families have always been special, I think. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I think it's true._

_Nakamura: Do you think this influx of gossip could be caused by one family trying to sabotage the other?_

_Elmer: No! Of course not! Our families have always been on fantastic terms with each other. In fact, there's so much inter-marriage between Elowens and Elmers that it's hard to tell who is an Elowen and who is an Elmer and who is both. Hera and I, our mothers were Elowen sisters. Her mother married one of her distant cousins, so she kept her last name, but mine married an Elmer, so I'm part of both families. I'm sure that there is no sabotage involved._

_Elowen: Definitely not._

_Nakamura: Are either of you afraid for your well-being or—especially for you, Ms. Elowen—the well-being of your posterity?_

_Elmer: A little bit, I’ll admit. I’m unmarried at the moment so I don't have any children, but I'm very worried about Athena._

_Elowen: I’m not worried._

_Nakamura: Why?_

_Elowen: I'm very hopeful. I know that we have been unlucky in the past, but I think that we're starting to get luckier. Athena was incredibly healthy and I've been very fortunate to have not had any injuries. Juno has also been blessed with good health. I believe that the next generation of Elowens and Elmers will be much better off than their forefathers._

_Nakamura: That's a lovely thought, Ms. Elowen._

_Elmer: I just think that we should be careful, considering our past._

_Elowen: There's no need. This generation has had the least number of tragedies in both of our families. There have been progressively less each generation. I'm very certain that soon we’ll have no tragedies and we can live in peace._

_Elmer: How do you know that?_

_Elowen: I've been very interested in our family history lately. We're getting much better, I know it._

_Nakamura: Well, this has been very interesting. I'm afraid we're out of time, but I would be incredibly grateful if the two of you would come back for another interview in the future._

_Elowen: I would love that._

_Elmer: So would I._

_Nakamura: I hope the rest of you enjoy your day._

“Hey, I remember Hera Elowen,” Nico says, making sure everyone was done reading before folding the newspaper and pulling the plastic covering back. “She and Dad do business together sometimes. We went to a bunch of her fancy parties when we were little.”

“The article says that there used to be sudden explosions, just like the one at the hospital,” Frank says. “And that Juniper lady must've been a ghost. This kind of stuff has been happening for decades.”

“And it has something to do with Annabeth’s family,” Jason adds.

“At least Hera was right about it stopping,” Percy says.

“But why?” Piper asks. “And how did she know for sure?”

Percy shrugs. “Who knows. Maybe she’s like Hazel. We’d have to ask for and honestly, I really don’t want to do that.”

“I’ll ask Ella if we can check this stuff out,” Frank says, gathering up the papers. “You guys just try and find anything else on the Elowens or ghosts or weird things happening. We’ve probably got some homework to do.”

“Why did Athena even leave, anyways?” Leo asks no one in particular.

“We don’t know,” Nico says. “Annabeth never talked about her. I bet the adults who knew her know what happened and just didn’t want to tell us.”

“She sounds so...mysterious,” Hazel says. “Athena, I mean. I bet she had a lot of secrets.”

“Like mother, like daughter, I suppose,” Nico snorts. They say nothing after that, and split up to look for more books.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this may be a little messy but I told myself "self, you gotta post something. girl it's been over a month."
> 
> if you still want some more reynabeth i have a fluffy one-shot unrelated to this fic posted so u can check that out under my works


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